Exclusive: AI is an added capability to the PC, less of an incremental investment, says top Dell executive

Sam Burd, President, Client Solutions Group, Dell Technologies. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Every major tech company, including Dell, is investing heavily in artificial intelligence—both in hardware and software development. How do you plan to recoup the investments you are currently making in AI?

Burd: PCs are going to become AI PCs, and compared to our competitors, we tend to sell higher up that stack, and I would say we have been very aggressive in bringing AI to mainstream price points. In fact, 80% of our business is in the commercial sector and about 20% in consumer. We view this less as an incremental investment in AI and more as an added capability of the PC. We are banking on the installed base of PCs transitioning into AI-enabled systems. For us, it’s not a separate focus but an integrated part of our products. We are making it easier for our customers to embrace AI capabilities. Our approach is to provide them with a great product today that will continue to meet their needs one, two, or even three years from now. Whether it’s for business use or a home user investing in a significant device, that product needs to deliver value both now and in the future.

Dell has adopted a new, ‘simplified’ naming scheme for its AI PCs. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

AI PCs have been around for over a year, and in the last few months alone, we saw a new generation of AI PCs with better chips inside. The hardware is in place, but how do you see the development of applications that leverage AI? In your opinion, which apps have been the most popular among consumers?

Burd: When I talk to customers, a big usage revolves around Microsoft 365, as AI capabilities are now integrated directly into the operating system. For instance, if you’re running Windows 11 alongside the Office suite of applications, those capabilities are already optimised to run on the NPU (Neural Processing Unit). A large portion of the business space relies heavily on these applications, and they are designed to leverage the NPU for improved performance.

However, there are also security applications that some people use at home and universally across office environments. Many of these are being developed to run on the NPU. Creative applications, particularly those used by content creators, are another major area of focus. These advancements benefit both home and business users. Content creators, in particular, are seeing substantial advantages, as applications designed for tasks like video editing or graphic design perform exceptionally well on NPUs. While individuals may also benefit, the primary use cases are found in professional, collaborative work environments.

AI PCs are still expensive and cost more than non-AI PCs. Given the high price points, when do you expect AI PCs to become more affordable, reaching a price point where average consumers and the broader market can purchase them?

Burd: If you look at the workstation business, we’ve been in it for a long time. AI has been a part of those systems for about seven or eight years, primarily catering to elite power users of technology. However, last year, we began seeing NPUs (Neural Processing Units) integrated into PCs. This year, we will see basic AI capabilities becoming a standard feature in devices, and think about some of your collaboration apps riding into that. Entry-level systems are expected to feature NPUs with 10, 15, or 20 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second), providing basic AI functionality. Above this, there is a tier of “Co-Pilot Plus” devices with more advanced capabilities, starting at 40+ TOPS. This year, these higher-performance systems will largely occupy the premium tier, while last year’s premium features are expected to transition into the mainstream segment. We anticipate a rapid evolution where today’s premium devices, such as CoPilot Plus PCs, will become mainstream options in the near future. I think it’s going to happen pretty quickly.

Dell is going more aggressive on AI PCs, and is working with Intel, AMD and Qualcomm as chip vendors. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Dell works closely with many chip vendors, and with Qualcomm entering the space, the PC lineup is now more diversified than ever. As a brand, how do you collaborate with each vendor, and how do you manage your product range, especially at a time when launch timelines are shortening, and competition is cut-throat?

Burd: The thing our teams need to do is focus across the entire portfolio. We try to be focused, rather than just throwing everything against the wall to see what happens. For the mainstream products, and the ones with Intel, AMD and Qualcomm solutions, our team looks across customers, whether in-store, online, or in the commercial space, by helping them understand how they will use the device and directing them to the right product. For example, AMD has AI accelerators integrated deeply across its portfolio, and they offer competitive price points. Intel tends to be a bit more expensive but has a good run time. Meanwhile, Qualcomm’s solutions fit well in corporate environments, where their features are often already in use. I see Qualcomm’s ARM-based chips, much like Apple’s platform, offer excellent runtime and are particularly effective in cloud-based and other application environments. They do, however, have a lesser presence in the discrete graphics space.

We don’t offer every solution in every product, but we provide choices across these different product lines. We guide customers to the right solution based on their specific needs. For instance, if someone cares more about budget, they might lean towards an AMD processor, while someone who needs their device to be highly mobile and run SAS applications might prefer Qualcomm or Intel. What’s right for one customer may not be right for another. This complexity has made things more challenging, as we now have more conversations with customers to understand their requirements. But I find it exciting because it brings a lot of innovation into the PC space, and that’s the part that’s truly exciting for me.

More smartphone brands are choosing to include their self-designed AI features on top of their interfaces in the hope that one or two might resonate with consumers. However, AI PCs come with a standard Windows experience. What is the reason we are not seeing brands like Dell ship AI PCs with their own AI layer on top of Windows?

Burd: You may have noticed consistency across the PC space, and we haven’t focused on developing Dell-specific applications. What we have done is bring Copilot and CoPilot Plus applications, and that’s true for both Dell and our competitors. We don’t focus on creating a bunch of unique branded features; instead, we believe in the power of the PC with a common operating system. Copilot offers a lot of great capabilities, and to me, that’s a more powerful message.

We want users to experience the full potential of Coilot, and on the commercial side, we understand that some customers may require more unique features. That’s less of a concern in the consumer space, where the goal is to make everyday tasks easier — maybe allowing for drawing or document summarisation. In the consumer space, people can also load other applications that suit their needs.

Our software team focuses on ensuring that our systems run smoothly. While we may not create the best AI application for drawing, the strength of the PC platform is that users can install whatever they need on their devices. Our main priority is providing an excellent base experience and helping our commercial customers deploy and integrate specific models on their devices. For instance, they may want applications from companies like Meta, or Google, and we ensure that those can be easily deployed and function seamlessly on their PCs.

A few years ago, every PC maker was getting into foldable laptops, but suddenly they stopped launching new ones. What happened to foldable laptops, and is Dell serious about making one in the future?

Burd: To me, the interesting thing is that the keyboard is still a really good way of interacting with the PC. We’ve had lots of foldable concepts in the lab, and we work with companies that are figuring out how to make glass, plastic, and OLED materials fold in a repeatable way. But the keyboard has worked well, and when you turn it into a piece of glass, people just don’t like it as much as a keyboard with a bit of travel.

A piece of glass is fine to type on, and a foldable display is great. It’s nice and makes the system bigger, but it is a sacrifice. When you are trying to get work done, and you want to use a keyboard, it can be challenging. So, we continue to look at all kinds of options around that form factor. But, in the end, a camera at the top, a big screen, a keyboard, and a nice big touchpad work really well, and we’re bringing more power to it.