Consumer spending on computers has been limited by worries about the global economy and the impact of tariffs, while AI has not drawn people in the way many expected because available software is immature, according to Hu. — AP
The new crop of artificial intelligence-powered PCs will take until 2026 or later to drive the market forward, according to Asustek Computer Inc co-chief executive officer Samson Hu.
Hopes for expansion in the moribund laptop market were not lifted by last year’s unveiling of AI PCs by everyone from Asus to Lenovo Group Ltd, and Hu sees the new US administration’s flurry of tariff announcements lowering expectations for this year too. Asus may consider raising prices in the US by as much as 10% to offset the cost of such levies, Hu said in an interview with Bloomberg News at the Computex trade show in Taipei.
Consumer spending on computers has been limited by worries about the global economy and the impact of tariffs, while AI has not drawn people in the way many expected because available software is immature, according to the executive.
"Original estimation of the market growth rate for the PC industry is around 5%,” Hu, who has been co-CEO of one of the world’s biggest PC and component makers since 2019, said. "Because of tariff policy uncertainty, I think right now most estimates already are reduced to 1% or 2% or even only flat.”
The hardware to power AI tasks is already on sale, the CEO said, with many of the Windows laptops that Microsoft Corp. branded Copilot+ PCs launched a year earlier at Computex 2024. But, according to Hu, the industry may need another year or two until third-party app developers build the software to fully take advantage of those capabilities. – Bloomberg
