Mr. Eric Lee: AI PC market has strong growth potential

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way people work, from content creation, programming to process optimization. AI laptops – equipped with AI processing chips (NPUs) – help speed up AI tasks, improve battery performance and support AI applications right on the device.

In Vietnam, the AI PC market is still new but is forecast to grow strongly in 2025. VTC News Electronic Newspaper reporter interviewed Mr. Eric Lee, Director of Southeast Asia Region (Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos) of ASUS to clarify this issue.

Mr. Eric Lee, Director of Southeast Asia Region (Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos) of ASUS.

- What is your assessment of the laptop market in Vietnam?

The laptop market in Vietnam has undergone significant fluctuations in recent years. In 2021, when the remote working trend exploded, the market witnessed a surge of up to 142% compared to 2020, but this took place in the context of limited supply. This led to a situation where actual demand far exceeded available inventory.

Moving into 2022 - 2023, the market will face another challenge, oversupply, when many products using previous generation CPUs are still in stock, while technological innovations during that period are not attractive enough to stimulate demand for device upgrades.

By 2024, we see a clear shift as inventory levels rebalance and consumer interest in laptops with next-generation CPUs increases. This is an important signal, especially as the industry looks toward the next big thing, AI PCs.

The CPU plays a pivotal role in determining overall performance, not only in the present but also for future needs. Although the CPU only accounts for about 20-30% of the total cost of a laptop, it is the core factor that determines overall performance. Choosing an older generation CPU actually only reduces the laptop's selling price by about 10%, but can significantly affect the user experience, limit performance and compatibility with AI technologies in the near future.

Consumers who choose to buy a laptop are not only looking for a laptop that suits their current needs, but also want a device that will accompany them for many years to come. Therefore, investing in advanced hardware now is an important factor to ensure long-term performance and to fully exploit the potential of AI in the future.

The AI laptop and AI PC market in Vietnam has strong growth potential.

- What do you think about the potential of the AI PC market in Vietnam at present?

The AI PC market in Vietnam is still in its early stages but has strong growth potential. In 2024, ASUS was the brand to introduce the first Copilot+ PC model in Vietnam. Since then, our AI laptop product line has expanded to more than six models that meet Copilot+ PC standards (Copilot+ PC is an AI laptop line with a powerful integrated NPU, helping to accelerate AI tasks right on the machine, optimizing battery, performance and security).

Currently, Copilot+ PC only accounts for about 1% of the total potential PC market in Vietnam. However, we expect stronger growth in the coming months, with more products at suitable price points. This could help the market share increase to about 3-5% by the end of 2025.

AI PC market has the potential to become mainstream in 2025

Mr. Eric Lee, Director of ASUS Southeast Asia Region

Globally, Gartner’s latest forecast shows that total AI PC shipments will increase by 165.5% in 2025 compared to 2024. Another forecast from IDC says that AI PCs will account for more than 80% of the global market by the end of 2027. When the global market leads the trend, the Vietnamese market usually follows with a lag of about 1-2 years.

- What challenges does ASUS face when introducing and popularizing AI laptops and AI PCs to users?

Understanding AI PCs is important as AI continues to expand in the consumer electronics space. Many users still view AI as a 'buzzword', making it difficult to recognize the real benefits that AI PCs in general, and AI laptops in particular, bring. It is important for a technology company like ASUS to show consumers that the benefits of AI are not limited to using AI applications, which, to be honest, are mostly still in beta and need time to develop and improve further.

One of the most significant benefits of AI on laptops today is optimizing battery performance. Thanks to the AI processor chip that helps optimize energy consumption between components based on the user's actual usage habits, AI laptops can significantly extend battery life and at the same time, improve the overall lifespan of the laptop.

While Qualcomm's ARM chip architecture is what plays the biggest role in saving power to achieve this battery life, AI also contributes by automatically optimizing apps running in the background, making them more power efficient.

- Although consumers are not yet really familiar with AI, businesses are moving towards digital transformation, aiming to use AI in their business and production activities. Will this help increase large orders from businesses?

In Vietnam, the application of AI laptops in business operations only started last year with the launch of the first Copilot+ PC model in our commercial product portfolio in December 2024.

Currently, most businesses still prefer to choose laptops with more reasonable prices. However, like any new technology, as demand increases and production costs decrease, we expect businesses, especially those in the financial, information technology and creative sectors, to soon adopt AI laptops to improve productivity and efficiency.

Currently, AI transformation in enterprises in Vietnam mainly focuses on cloud services and AI integration services on AI server infrastructure. In 2024, ASUS will cooperate withFPT AI Factory to develop an advanced AI infrastructure system. The integration of ASUS ESC N8-E11 server into FPT AI Factory helps to process complex computing workloads, marking an important milestone in promoting domestic AI innovation and strengthening AI sovereignty in Vietnam.

Applying AI laptops and AI PCs helps improve productivity and work efficiency.

- In your opinion, what will be the laptop trend in the future? What technologies does ASUS predict will become industry standards?

AI integration and ARM architecture are expected to continue to grow strongly and gradually become mainstream.

In particular, AI NPUs are likely to become a standard feature across the industry. These AI-powered processors will improve many aspects of the user experience, from power optimization, smoother video calls, to smarter system operations.

In the future, we believe AI-based optimizations will play an increasingly important role in everyday computing, helping to improve smarter workflows, enhance security, and improve overall performance.

Thank you very much!

Khanh Huyen

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/ong-eric-lee-thi-truong-ai-pc-co-tiem-nang-tang-truong-manh-me-ar934909.html