The undeniable star of this Computex 2024 is none other than Qualcomm. The appearance of Copilot+ computers with their Snapdragon chip has a lot to do with it, but the American manufacturer is already looking further ahead.
Can we come out of a high-tech show all grown up without having unveiled a new product or demonstrated amazing technology? A priori yes, if we judge the performance of Qualcomm at Computex 2024. To say that Qualcomm did not show anything at the Taiwanese show, however, is not entirely fair. The American manufacturer has definitely released its new processors, Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon. Strictly speaking, there was therefore nothing really “new” on the Qualcomm stand. And yet, at the end of this Computex, the Californian brand seems to be adorned with a new aura. How is it possible?
The appearance of Copilot+ PC
Undoubtedly, the main highlight of Computex for Qualcomm was the speech of its CEO, Cristiano Amon, at the opening of this show. The exercise is pretty standard. It’s about selling the qualities of its products, in this case the flagship Snapdragon X Elite, and promising a bright future to those who adopt them. Interspersed with some demonstrations of use and some testimonies of confidence, the speech could almost be written in advance, provided that this year you know how to combine “AI” at all times.
However, this did not happen on the stage of the 7th floor of TaiNEX, the Taipei convention center. Christian Amon of course praised his chip based on Arm architecture, but his speech was validated by no less than seven OEM dignitaries as key as Asus, Samsung, Lenovo, HP and even Acer and Dell. Not to mention the initial message recorded by Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, to underline the good relations between Qualcomm and the Redmond company. Finally, it was a good part of the industry that celebrated the arrival of computers under Arm and even more under Snapdragon X Elite.
Favorable context
Qualcomm also benefits from a particularly favorable context. That of an increase in power from Arm which presents itself more and more as a credible rival to Intel in the PC world. It is obviously not a coincidence that Qualcomm’s remarkable performance was preceded by at least an equally commented release by Rene Haas, the CEO of Arm. The latter announced a very ambitious goal: that of reaching a market share of more than 50% for Windows computers within five years. 24 hours later, during a question-and-answer session with the press, Cristiano Amon considered the objective credible, thus confirming the place that Qualcomm wishes to occupy in the future.
Optimism is therefore in order, and this, for a simple reason: thanks to their design and the presence of an NPU, computers under Arm, whether equipped with a Qualcomm or an AMD chip, are best able to meet new AI requirements. The most striking example is of course Copilot+, the artificial intelligence feature of Windows. It is therefore not by chance that a few meters from Cristiano Amon, on the Computex stage, a showcase offered a view of the first 22 Copilot+ PC machines that will be launched on the market on June 18. They have one thing in common: a Snapdragon X Elite chip.
(New) unlimited ambitions
Qualcomm’s journey of strength would not be complete without one last element: the prospect of a bright future. “I will not announce Gen2 of the Snapdragon And yet, there was a lot of talk about what comes next during our discussions with the officials of the brand. If Qualcomm refuses to reveal a detailed roadmap of its future announcements, it does not hesitate to show great ambitions.
“We come from the world of mobile, the most competitive industry in the world, in which we have successfully negotiated every major technological change. We intend to do the same in the computer world… in all its forms”, this is how the CEO of Qualcomm confirmed the future versions of the Snapdragon X Elite for servers, desktops and, a little later, in the automotive industry.
This remarkable performance will of course have to be confirmed by the tests of the first machines under Snapdragon X Elite, but after several failed attempts, this time could be the right one for the Arm architecture and its most ardent defender, Qualcomm.