Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm delivered a keynote speech at COMPUTEX 2025 discussing how AI is expected to shape the future of computing, drawing on the adoption of its system-on-chips (SoCs) Snapdragon and the advent of AI PCs.
COMPUTEX is currently running in Taipei, Taiwan, from 20-23 May, with the theme of ‘AI Next’. In addition to Amon’s keynote, NVIDIA CEO and Founder Jensen Huang shared insights into where NVIDIA is headed alongside an announcement of a new slew of products.
Both speeches were heavily attended, as attendees were keen to hear what both companies have in store. For Qualcomm, this has been all about AI: evidenced by the keynote speech delivered in 2024, where it unveiled its Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X processors.
Using the example of its Snapdragon X Elite series, Amon discussed how these processors are improving performance on Microsoft devices. Together with Microsoft, Qualcomm has launched Microsoft five models, optimised on Snapdragon NPUs, which are being deployed across “thousands of organisations”, according to Amon.
In addition to the close partnership with Microsoft, HP, ASUS and Lenovo were all emphasised as partnerships that have produced devices running on Snapdragon to offer users greater performance and battery life. For ASUS’ Zenbook laptops, for example, running on Snapdragon they deliver 32 hours of battery life: demonstrating continued demand for laptops that can be used for long periods of time.
“We’ve been busy making it [AI] mainstream,” said Alex Cho, President of Personal Systems, HP. “It’s not just one product or two. We’ve now launched the industry’s largest portfolio of Copilot+ PCs.”
How AI will impact commercial and enterprise experiences
In one year since the launch of its Snapdragon X Elite series, the progress for Qualcomm has been significant: there are now 750 applications native on Snapdragon; 93% of users of devices are on native experiences; and there are over 50 NPU-powered features and applications. Furthermore, adoption of the series has 85 designs currently launched or in development, which is expected to reach 100 next year.
Last year at COMPUTEX, Qualcomm shared how AI would impact the consumer standpoint; this time AI was discussed from the perspective of how it is expected to transform both commercial and enterprise experiences. AI PCs are capable of improving workflows by allowing AI agents to operate across company systems and data. These agents will be able to personalise tasks and assist roles such as product managers or sales managers by integrating data.
“Let’s say that your product manager wants to generate a smart report on a quarter outlook,” explained Amon, “you’ll be able to use an agent that is tuned to your preference and your goals to help you create this plan working across the enterprise.”
“The reality is [that] this is going to fundamentally change how we work,” Amon continued. “This is not true for one industry, but this is true for many indifferent industries.”
The value of deploying AI agents in this manner is to improve productivity, and free up employees to work on other tasks.
AI PCs are arguably at an inflection point where the potential of the hardware is still being explored. In comparing them to the early days of smartphones – the development of which Qualcomm was heavily involved in – Amon said that built-in apps made smartphones interesting, but it was the development of thousands of more that scaled smartphones.
“Sometimes investors will say, ‘When is the AI PC happening?’ It’s happening right now. This is what we’re starting to see,” he said. “And you’re going to go through exactly the same process [as smartphones]. This is not just about the great Copilot+ features for Microsoft and the incredible features OEms are providing, but it’s also going to be what the developer ecosystem can do now that they have access to this hardware.”
Looking to the future
The integration of AI into applications is only just beginning, and its untapped potential makes it a hugely exciting industry. The PC has been “reborn” thanks to AI, Amon said, significantly impacting personal computing.
Commemorating its 40-year anniversary – Qualcomm was founded in 1985 – its focus on building a horizontal platform has lent its capabilities to supporting the rise of AI, as well as continuing to support its partnerships with hardware companies.
Amon concluded the speech by asking the audience to “stay tuned” for future exciting announcements coming from Qualcomm.
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