• Most companies are planning, piloting or deploying AI PCs now
• High-performance NPUs are "critical" – performance and security benefits are key
• The most popular use cases show AI PCs being most useful for knowledge workers

New data from AMD claims AI PC adoption has increased rapidly lately, with over four in five organizations either planning, piloting or deploying AI PCs in some form.

This shows a shift from experimentation to real deployment, with enterprises set to embed AI into everyday workflows beginning with the right hardware that's capable of running some workloads locally.

Already, 70% report faster performance and reduced latency when they're using dedicate AI PCs, with 59% now seeing high-performance NPUs as "critical."

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Are AI PCs the foundation to good AI deployment?

According to AMD, two in every three companies noted increased employee productivity from using AI PCs as computers shift to become execution platforms rather than just simple productivity tools.

And this has never been more critical than today, in the age of always-on AI through agentic capabilities. AMD described the latest generations of PCs as a "local execution later" for real-time, secure task processing, citing lower latency, better privacy and security, and the possibility of reducing cloud costs as key benefits.

Still, respondents saw PCs acting as an interface for cloud agents (51%) and as a secure local execution hub (47%) in near-equal measure.

Moreover, 81% of the study's participants claimed meaningful knowledge of AI PCs. As a result, while the desire to futureproof devices is a part-driver in the reason to upgrade, most companies see productivity gains, innovation, a competitive advantage and security improvements as higher priorities.

As for real-world uses (27% have already deployed them at scale), AI PCs are proving most popular among knowledge workers, helping boost efficiency across tasks like document, presentations, spreadsheets, meeting transcription and summarization. In fact, coding assistance ranks lower than image and video generation, likely due to workers preferring online Copilot tools that are cloud-first.

It's clear from AMD's research that AI PCs are shifting from a 'nice-to-have' to being a business staple. However, AI PCs aren't set to replace traditional cloud-based AI as we enter a hybrid era of local and cloud processing for the best balance of performance and security.

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With several years’ experience freelancing in tech and automotive circles, Craig’s specific interests lie in technology that is designed to better our lives, including AI and ML, productivity aids, and smart fitness. He is also passionate about cars and the decarbonisation of personal transportation. As an avid bargain-hunter, you can be sure that any deal Craig finds is top value!