Dell unveils new line of PCs optimised for AI tasks

NEW YORK – Dell Technologies is unveiling a new line of personal computers optimised for artificial intelligence (AI) tasks, betting that they will help rejuvenate a long-struggling business.

“We’re going to be delivering them in volume,” chief executive officer and founder Michael Dell said. By 2025, they will “be pretty standard”.

So-called AI PCs contain neural processing units, a kind of chip that is meant to speed up AI work like running a chatbot. Those chips will be made by Qualcomm for the laptops that Dell announced on May 20 during its annual conference.

Dell executives said the PCs include a dedicated key to summon Microsoft’s AI Copilot service, which uses generative AI – technology that responds to written or verbal prompts from users – to automate business tasks such as summarising documents and writing memos.

The computer market has seen a historic drop-off in demand over the last two years. Many consumers, businesses and schools bought laptops in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic but have not yet opted for upgrades. With the proliferation of mainstream chatbots and generative AI tools in the past year, Dell and other computer makers see AI PCs as an opportunity to revitalise demand.

While AI-optimised computers will begin as a “more advanced” product, they will “flow into the mainstream pretty quickly”, Mr Dell said. “Do you want to buy a PC that is not capable of doing those AI things that you’ll want to do in the future? I don’t think so.”

Global computer shipments increased in the first quarter for the first time since the end of 2021, industry research firm IDC said in April.

“Along with growth in shipments, AI PCs are also expected to carry higher price tags, providing further opportunity for PC and component makers,” wrote IDC analyst Jitesh Ubrani.

Although Dell is known for its PCs, investors have recently focused on the company’s server business, which has seen a renaissance due to demand for high-powered equipment that can run AI workloads. Dell said it had a US$2.9 billion (S$3.9 billion) backlog for those servers as at February.

Dell shares had gained 95 per cent in 2024 as at May 17’s close, hitting a record high earlier in May after Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring said the company’s AI server and storage businesses were seeing more momentum than previously assumed.

Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani wrote last week that Dell had won “a large portion of business for Tesla’s AI server build-out”. Dell declined to comment on the deal.

Much of the investor excitement is contingent on Dell’s relationship with Nvidia, the top maker of processors that power AI workloads, which helps Dell secure high-powered chips. A viral clip of

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang touting the hardware maker’s capabilities

was cited by Mr Woodring last week as evidence of the relationship.

“If you need anything in IT, anything in computing and enterprise, you know exactly who to call – you call Dell,” Mr Huang said.

“It is a good arrangement, so I can attest to that,” Mr Dell said of his company’s relationship with Nvidia.

Still, the new era of computing “requires all sorts of new infrastructure and capabilities – certainly, our partnership with Nvidia is incredibly important, but there are others and there will be others”, he added. BLOOMBERG