Windows 12 is reportedly set to arrive this coming summer as an overseas PC manufacturer announces its plan to be the first to invest in AI PCs. Lin Baili, chairman and founder of Quanta, which is a contract “white-box” PC maker in China whose products are often resold under different names, and Acer Chairman and CEO Chen Junsheng both recently attended the Taiwan Medical Technology Exhibition conference where they went on record expressing optimism about the forthcoming AI PC industry. Microsoft’s next operating system is said to have been designed with AI PCs in mind and is believed to launch in support of forthcoming PCs featuring AI technology.
Lin Baili has said that AI PCs could roll out next summer and that Quanta will be the first to invest in the industry with strategic pathways for AI PCs, AI servers, and AI automotive technologies. While the company is known throughout China as a contractor for its PCs it also manufactures servers and server components. Baili stated that due to ongoing supply limitations, the company is still working on current server orders but is more confident about the new market even if the demand for it is uncertain.
Per The Commercial Times (machine translated):
“He expects that next summer, when Microsoft launches a new generation of Windows operating systems, AI PCs will also be launched one after another. The demand is difficult to estimate, but “it is a good opportunity” for the industry.”
Acer’s Chen Junsheng was a bit more pragmatic about the potential of the AI PC industry but does believe it will happen, even if not overnight. He clarified that there will be more of a gradual, step-by-step, change over to AI PCs as users, and developers, become more acquainted with AI PC features. Once this has happened, it is expected that industry growth will quickly accelerate.
Per The Commercial Times (machine translated):
“However, he also reiterated that the demand for AI PCs and the benefits it brings to the market will not explode overnight and will require changes in usage behavior. , step by step, this process will “continuously accelerate”, and generative AI applications will accelerate the introduction of more functions, which is bound to stimulate new usage models and thereby drive demand for AI PCs.”
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said back in July (via PCWorld), that its Meteor Lake processors would usher in the era of AI PCs. What constitutes meeting the criteria for being an AI PC is still a bit of a grey area but in this case, Gelsinger is no doubt referring to the neural processing units included in Meteor Lake processors similar to other technologies used by other processor manufacturers.
Per PCWorld:
“AI PC is generally assumed to be a PC with a processor (such as Intel’s Meteor Lake, AMD’s Ryzen AI, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite CPU) with on-chip AI capabilities.”
Windows 12 is reportedly going to be released in June 2024 and according to TechPowerUp, it will also include support for ARM chipsets. AMD, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and other processor manufacturers are expected to introduce their latest ARM-based offerings throughout 2024, thus creating an expanded presence of ARM in the PC market space.
Per TechPowerUp:
“Qualcomm is set to debut its Snapdragon Elite X SoCs in mid-2024, aligning with the alleged release schedule of Windows 12. With more players like NVIDIA, AMD, and others planning to utilize an Arm instruction set for their next-generation PC chips, we expect to see Windows 12 get full-fledged support for Arm ISA and treat it like a first-class citizen in the OS.”