Computex 2024 Preview: The Hardware Side of AI

Avram Piltch
·5 min read
Computex 2024.
Computex 2024.

This June, the tech world’s main event is happening in Taiwan. While more headlines often come out of CES, the consumer electronics expo that happens in Las Vegas in January, Computex Taipei is a far more important show. Because it takes place in the land where many components and PCs are manufactured, companies can carry new prototypes right over from their corporate HQs and onto the show floor.

Some of the hottest companies in the PC space are based in Taiwan, including MSI, Asus, Acer, Gigabyte, Cooler Master, and ASRock. Major chip makers such as Intel, Nvidia, AMD and TSMC also have major footprints there. So, just by virtue of who’s exhibiting at Computex 2024, it promises to be an amazing show with lots of new revelations.

This is my first year at Computex since 2019 and I couldn’t be more excited to roam the show floors, visit the actual offices of some of the world’s most important companies, and find innovative and intriguing products I can share with you. I’ll be joined on-site by our A-Team of editors: Paul Alcorn and Matt Safford, along with frequent news contributor Anton Shilov.

Together, we have more than 25 years of experience covering this show.  We are honored to have the privilege of being there and look forward to bringing you news that’s both surprising and thought-provoking. You’ll find all of our show coverage on the Tom’s Hardware Computex 2024 hub. Press day is Monday, June 3rd and the show runs through Friday, June 7th so you can expect us to be publishing frequent Computex news throughout that time.

This year, we expect to learn a lot more about the future of local AI processing on PCs. A number of vendors will show off new systems based on the new Snapdragon X series and high-end or even next-gen processors from AMD and Intel. Here’s what we expect from Computex 2024:

  • New chips from Intel and AMD: Both of these companies are holding major keynote events and we’d hazard to guess that they will show off new products. After the recent announcement that only Snapdragon X-powered laptops would be able to run Windows 11’s new AI features, the two x86 manufacturers need to answer back. We expect them to show off new processors with built-in NPUs that can exceed the 40 TOPS minimum Microsoft requires to classify a laptop as a Copilot+ PC.

  • Something interesting from Nvidia: Nvidia has made a lot of headlines for its datacenter and professional GPUs, but the company hasn’t done much to impress consumers of late. Its flagship RTX 4090 GPU is nearly two years old at this point, which leaves us wondering: what’s next? CEO Jensen Huang has a major keynote on Sunday evening, and we would not be surprised if he talked about next-gen graphics for end users and gaming. But since this is an industry event, we also expect him to tout datacenter wins. The most interesting question: Will Nvidia make its own processor for Windows on Arm (WoA) laptops and compete with Qualcomm?

  • More Copilot+ PCs: Yes, we saw a slew of new Copilot+ laptops at Microsoft’s Build press conference the other day, but we expect to see even more break cover at Computex.

  • Next-Gen AMD and Intel Laptops: Since Intel’s Lunar Lake CPUs are due in Q3, there’s a great chance that we’ll see Lunar Lake-powered laptops at Computex. Laptops based on AMD’s next-gen chips may also make an appearance.

  • Surprises from Qualcomm: Qualcomm has a major keynote happening on Monday, and while the company could just use the time to hype its Snapdragon X chips, those are kind of old news as they’re about to appear in shipping laptops starting in June. We’re more curious to see if the company talks about what comes after Snapdragon X — and whether it’s going to target desktops or servers for Windows on Arm.

  • More rear-connector cases and components: One of the biggest PC building trends of the past year has been the growing popularity of systems that let you plug all of your power cables, including the GPU power on some systems, into the back of the motherboard. MSI, Asus and Gigabyte are all leaders in this space, although Maingear holds a patent on some of the technology. We expect to see a lot more motherboards and cases that support rear-connector boards and components.

  • Unique peripherals and components: It’s fun when you see a unique keyboard or a mouse with a brand new feature, or even an automated desk. We’re always on the lookout for the interesting stuff, which is sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always noteworthy. Last year, we were impressed by Cooler Master’s MasterHUB tech, a modular version of the Steam Deck, but we still haven’t seen it come out.

Keynote Schedule

The following four major keynotes are taking place during Computex. We’ll be reporting live from each of them and posting a streaming link if one becomes available.

Note that the times below are local Taipei times (UTC+8). So, if you live in the eastern U.S., Taiwan is 12 hours ahead of you. If you live in the Pacific time zone, it’s 15 hours ahead of you. And, if you live in the UK, it’s 7 hours ahead of you.

We’ll be covering all four of these so please stay tuned.