China's AI PC will reach 33 million units by 2028, accounting for 73% of the PC market

On August 21, Canalys predicted that personal computers with AI functions (AI PC) in mainland China will begin to take off in 2024 and will reach 33 million units by 2028, accounting for 73% of the PC market.

Canalys said that in the AI ​​PC era, PC manufacturers face unprecedented unique opportunities in mainland China. Microsoft Copilot lacks a local implementation roadmap in mainland China, which greatly limits the interest of consumers and enterprise users in adopting AI features and products. But it also provides PC manufacturers and other industry participants with a lot of opportunities to innovate, experiment, and optimize the development and implementation strategies of AI PC in the Chinese mainland market.

Catalyst’s latest PC end-user survey shows that many large enterprises in mainland China have established clear guidelines for integrating GenAI into their workflows. This level of AI participation exceeds that of Western countries such as the UK, the United States, and Germany. Large enterprises engaged in internet services and IT infrastructure, like technology companies, rely on their advanced digital capabilities to promote AI adoption quickly. However, some traditional industries, such as manufacturing, still need to establish their digital foundation. These industries are not yet fully prepared for AI.

To expand the AI ​​PC market in mainland China, PC manufacturers mainly adopt two strategies. One is to directly provide original versions of AI PC computers. This strategy includes launching AI PCs with standard Windows features and high-performance hardware (such as Intel’s Core Ultra or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite, etc.). The second is computers that integrate self-developed or third-party AI functions, which focus on developing proprietary AI functions and establishing an AI application ecosystem. Manufacturers such as Lenovo and Asus are adopting this approach to develop their own AI agents and applications, such as Lenovo’s AI agent “Xiaotian Assistant” or Asus’s AI creation application “StoryCube”.

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