The race for the next generation of computing is moving beyond traditional processors. Nvidia’s push into AI-focused chips for personal computing and AMD’s expansion of its Ryzen AI portfolio have intensified a new battle – one where artificial intelligence is becoming the defining workload for the next era of devices. For Intel, the shift represents both a challenge and an opportunity: to transform its identity from a dominant CPU maker into a broader AI computing platform company.
For decades, the semiconductor industry was driven by faster processors, higher clock speeds and improved power efficiency. Today, the competition is shifting towards how effectively chips can support AI applications across personal computers, enterprises, data centres and edge devices.
Santhosh Viswanathan, VP & MD, Intel APJ, believes the future of AI computing will not be defined by a single type of processor. While GPUs have powered much of the recent AI boom, he argues that the next phase will require CPUs, GPUs and dedicated AI processing engines working together. “AI compute for the past few years has almost exclusively focused on GPU performance,” Viswanathan says, adding that Intel has consistently maintained that CPUs will continue to play a critical role in the AI era. According to him, the CPU will increasingly become the “orchestration layer” managing complex AI workloads across different computing engines.
This thinking forms the foundation of Intel’s strategy. The company is positioning its latest Core Ultra processor family as more than a traditional PC chip by combining CPU, GPU and neural processing unit (NPU) capabilities into a single platform. Intel believes this approach will allow AI workloads to be handled more efficiently by assigning tasks to the right computing engine.
The company’s broader argument is that AI adoption will move beyond large cloud data centres. As AI becomes embedded into everyday devices and business operations, computing will need to happen across multiple environments – from laptops and smartphones to factories, retail networks and industrial systems.
That creates a different competitive battleground. While raw performance remains important, businesses are increasingly evaluating factors such as privacy, energy efficiency, cost and flexibility. Intel believes its advantage lies in combining hardware, software and ecosystem partnerships to deliver AI experiences across different segments.
Viswanathan points to hybrid AI as a key part of Intel’s vision. The company believes future AI systems will determine where workloads should run – on the device or in the cloud – depending on factors such as data sensitivity, latency and complexity. For enterprises, this could mean processing sensitive information locally while relying on cloud infrastructure for larger AI workloads.
Intel’s challenge is that AI leadership is no longer only about building faster silicon. The competitive advantage increasingly comes from the ecosystem around the technology. “We believe delivering the best AI compute performance requires a full-system approach,” Viswanathan says.
Intel’s strategy is built around creating solutions across client computing, edge, graphics and data centres rather than competing only in one category. The company is betting that the rise of agentic AI – systems capable of reasoning, planning and executing tasks – will further increase demand for heterogeneous computing, where CPUs, GPUs and NPUs work together rather than replace one another.
This could open new opportunities beyond traditional PCs. Intel sees growth potential in robotics, industrial automation, enterprise AI and edge computing, where real-time processing and efficiency are becoming increasingly important.
India is expected to play a significant role in this strategy. Viswanathan describes the country as both a major growth market and an important innovation centre for Intel. Intel India, the company’s largest engineering centre outside the US, contributes to product development across AI, data centres, networking, edge computing and client platforms. The chip maker sees India’s expanding developer ecosystem, enterprise technology adoption and demand for affordable AI solutions as important drivers for the next phase of AI growth.
For Intel, the challenge now is converting decades of processor leadership into a stronger position in AI. Viswanathan’s message is clear: the next computing era will not be built around a single winning chip, but around integrated platforms capable of delivering AI at scale.