This week, COMPUTEX, Taiwan’s premier technology expo, will host the gathering of chipmaking and artificial intelligence giants. The audience is set to enthusiastically welcome Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during his keynote speech on Sunday.
“This is the beginning of our company’s operations because we manufacture our wafers here and build our systems here,” Huang told reporters last week.
ARM-based Macs initially gave Apple a competitive advantage in the ongoing Mac vs. PC debate. Nonetheless, the debut of Copilot+ laptops powered by Snapdragon X-series processors signifies a revitalization of PCs, now posing a formidable challenge even in the Windows environment. The next Computex 2024 should focus on this transition.
A star-studded event
The 2024 edition of Computex attracted considerable attention due to the involvement of not only Huang, but also senior executives from some of Nvidia’s main competitors in the AI hardware space, such as AMD, Qualcomm and Intel.
AMD’s Lisa Su and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon are also expected to deliver keynote speeches at Computex.
Su is expected to detail AMD’s strategies for competing in cutting-edge AI, while Amon will “showcase the AI-accelerated experiences users can expect from their next-generation PCs,” according to organizers.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and Arm boss René Haas are also expected to speak at the event. Tech companies are investing heavily in AI, and Taiwanese manufacturers play a crucial role in their strategies. Taiwan is responsible for manufacturing the majority of the world’s most advanced semiconductors, including those critical to powerful AI applications and research.
Suppliers like Foxconn, traditionally known for contract manufacturing of electronics for companies like Apple, have also shifted their focus to producing AI hardware in recent years. Foxconn CEO Young Liu informed shareholders Friday that the company’s global market share for AI servers is expected to reach 40% this year.
Nonetheless, Taiwan’s central position in the semiconductor supply chain, which powers the modern economy, has become a source of concern in world capitals and on corporate boardrooms. Taiwan governs itself, but China asserts its claims on the island and does not rule out the possibility of using force to assert control.
New introduction of Microsoft to the market
Microsoft’s introduction of Copilot+ PCs, powered by Snapdragon With Intel and AMD-powered Copilot+ PCs on the horizon, Microsoft’s collaboration with Qualcomm highlights a break from x86 dominance, leveling the playing field for ARM in the Windows environment.
Although ARM-based Windows PCs have been seen before, the current surge involves major OEMs including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, in addition to Microsoft. All now offer Copilot+ PCs equipped with Snapdragon X Elite or Snapdragon X Plus processors. Although these PCs currently use Qualcomm chips exclusively, this is expected to change in the near future.
Microsoft says the new Copilot+-branded Surface Laptop and Surface Pro have the potential to outperform a 15-inch MacBook Air M3 by 58% over the multi-core CPU benchmark, while also offering 20% more battery life. However, these numbers are preliminary and the actual performance of these ARM-based PCs remains to be seen. To reach a level of maturity comparable to that of Apple Silicon, it is imperative that more developers bring their applications natively to ARM, a trend that Microsoft says continues to increase.
About Computex
COMPUTEX Taipei, also known as Taipei International Information Technology Exhibition, is an annual IT exhibition held in Taipei, Taiwan. Since the early 2000s, it has grown into one of the largest and most influential trade shows in the global IT and technology industry.
COMPUTEX is co-organized by the Taiwan Foreign Trade Development Council (TAITRA), a government-funded organization, and the Taipei Computer Association (TCA), a private sector entity. The inaugural exhibition, initially known as the Taipei Computer Show, was held in 1981.
Initially serving as a platform for small and medium-sized businesses in Taiwan’s booming IT sector to showcase their products, the event changed its name to COMPUTEX in its fourth edition, proposed by Stan Shih, former TCA director.
With the rapid growth of Taiwan’s information technology sector in the early 1990s and the use of the Foreign Trade Council Exhibition Hall at Taipei Songshan Airport during the Eighth and Ninth Expos, COMPUTEX became a vital global showcase for the IT industry.
On November 28, 2018, it officially became the world’s largest IT show, attracting major manufacturers such as Intel, AMD and NVIDIA, as well as well-known Taiwanese brands like Acer and ASUS.
The convergence of tech giants at Computex 2024 marks a pivotal moment in the industry’s trajectory, with Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, Intel and other leaders unveiling their strategies to advance AI and PC technology . Amidst this innovation, Microsoft’s introduction of Copilot+ PCs signals a paradigm shift, challenging the dominance of x86 and heralding a new era for ARM in the Windows ecosystem. As Taiwan embraces its crucial role in semiconductor production amid geopolitical tensions, the global technology landscape is poised for transformative change.
