In an interview with CRN, Lenovo North American President Ryan McCurdy shares his optimism regarding the future of AI-enabled PCs for Lenovo, highlighting the company’s outperformance in the PC market, its hybrid AI approach’s benefits for partners, and the growing demand for alternatives to Nvidia’s data center GPUs.
McCurdy emphasizes Lenovo’s readiness to introduce new software alongside innovative device offerings to propel the AI PC revolution forward. He envisions a continuous cycle of product development, integrating AI hardware capabilities to catalyze advancements in AI software development by independent software vendors. McCurdy analogizes this initiative to paving an “AI autobahn,” aiming to accelerate AI software innovation.
Lenovo initiated the year with its inaugural wave of AI PCs, spanning from the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop to the ThinkCentre neo Ultra ultra-small form factor desktop. These PCs integrate neural processing units (NPUs) alongside CPUs and GPUs to manage diverse AI workloads effectively.
Furthermore, Lenovo is preparing its own software solutions, alongside offerings from Google and Microsoft, to distinguish the Lenovo AI PC experience from competitors. McCurdy underscores the significance of both industry-standard and Lenovo-specific software in driving differentiation and fostering growth.
McCurdy expresses optimism regarding Lenovo’s AI PC trajectory, buoyed by the Windows 11 upgrade cycle and increasing demand for AI capabilities. He anticipates these factors to propel Lenovo’s growth in the coming years.
Highlighting the inevitability of hardware upgrades to leverage AI advancements, McCurdy emphasizes the importance of staying abreast of technological modernization. He asserts that businesses and consumers alike recognize the necessity of embracing AI capabilities, driving momentum for hardware modernization efforts.
