With AI driving new technology investments, CIOs are betting on AI PCs to support their push for generative AI innovation.
By having a strong understanding of the AI PC market, IT leaders can build out an even more powerful digital transformation plan that covers business objectives as well as the infrastructure and hardware needed to maximise the benefits.
It’s clear that with the impending removal of support for Windows 10, many enterprises are looking to upgrade their fleets amid a new era of AI.
Figures from IDC show that 82% of IT decision makers see AI PCs as a positive for employees and expect to purchase new hardware before the end of 2025.[1]
Over half are prepared to pay a 10% premium for PCs with Neural Processing Units (NPUs) with performance of over 40 tera operations per second (TOPS) (GD-243).[2]
IDC’s most recent market forecasts predict that 57% of PCs shipped next year will feature an integrated NPU.[3]
Yet not all PCs labelled as AI PCs offer the same features or capabilities. While all promise a stable and performant platform, some offer a superior AI experience.
A new era
What makes an AI PC? The NPU is the key distinguishing feature, accelerating AI workloads running locally on the machine more efficiently than the CPU (Central Processing Unit) or GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). Right now, they accelerate specific processes in a range of creative applications, handle video and audio enhancements in online meetings, and enable security apps to run AI-enhanced anti-phishing or intrusion-detection systems in the background.
Crucially, the NPU can run these AI processes more efficiently than the CPU or GPU, reducing the impact on overall application performance and battery life over the working day.
Not all NPUs are equal. Where early NPUs were limited in scope and power, newer processors offer performance between 40 TOPS and 50 TOPS (GD-243). What’s more, performance tests with the DeepSeek R1 LLM and Procyon’s AI benchmarks put AMD RyzenTM AI 300 Series processors ahead of Intel and Qualcomm rivals.[4]
Yet the NPU is not the whole story. CPU and GPU resources can also be harnessed to accelerate AI workloads, enabling new use cases such as running LLMs or small language models (SLMs) locally to meet privacy or regulatory requirements, or in a hybrid environment combining local processing with cloud.
They can also support features such as live transcription and translation in scenarios where cloud-based AI may introduce latency or not be viable. There’s potential in future versions of Windows and desktop apps for local AI agents to automate or simplify key tasks, making tools more accessible and boosting productivity.
To take advantage, enterprises need devices that go beyond the NPU to deliver a balanced platform with significant CPU and GPU horsepower, and widespread support for AI frameworks and existing Windows applications. The AMD RyzenTM AI processor offers a significant advantage, thanks to its cutting-edge “Zen 5” architecture, AMD Radeon TM graphics cores and powerhouse multi-threaded performance. It’s prepared for the demands of existing applications and future AI-enhanced tools.
As much as they demand advanced AI capabilities, enterprises need them within a stable, business-ready platform, based on validated, enterprise-grade hardware and software. They need security features that protect the firmware, OS and applications, and prevent malware from executing.
Experienced CIOs also value features that simplify deployment and support endpoint management in real-time and at scale, along with the robust, high-performance connectivity to ensure a fast, reliable link to the corporate network and the cloud.
AMD RyzenTM AI PRO devices offer these capabilities at an enterprise-grade, making AMD the premium AI partner for businesses investing in a future-proof fleet. Find out more.
[1] IDC White Paper, Sponsored by AMD, Accelerate your Organization’s AI Strategy by Deploying High-Performance AI PCs, #US53192925, March 2025 (1 and 2)
[2] Ibid
[3] IDC Blog, Where were AI PCs at Computex 2025?, May 2025
[4] Benchmark figures shown in AMD presentation AI at the Edge: Transforming Enterprise Computing with AMD Innovation