If the big chipmakers used last year’s Computex to strut their AI stuff, this year’s edition of the Taiwan tech trade show has been a full-blown dance-off. And while much of the focus is still on data-center AI chips, this time the battle for the AI PC is also very much on.
To set the scene, a couple weeks ago Microsoft announced the new category of “Copilot+ PC” that would be able to comfortably run generative AI models locally on the machine, rather than relying on the cloud. And Qualcomm was the star of the show, with its Arm-based Snapdragon X Elite chipsets powering the first wave of announced Copilot+ laptops. These processors promise great power and power efficiency that should make Windows machines competitive with Apple’s recent Arm-based MacBooks, which have owned the market for portable, powerful, and long-lasting laptops in recent years.
