The market for artificial intelligence processors at the edge is projected to expand from $31 billion in 2022 to $60 billion by 2028, according to research by Omdia. This growth, which translates to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11%, is largely attributed to the increasing role of personal computers in this sector.
The report, encompassing a diverse range of devices such as smartphones, PCs, tablets, smart speakers, robots, and UAVs, indicates a shift in the market dynamics of AI processors. PCs are expected to become a significant driver of this market growth over the next four years. This shift can be partly attributed to the introduction of advanced CPUs like Intel’s Meteor Lake, AMD’s Ryzen 7040 and 8040 series, Apple’s M-series, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Elite X. Additionally, the anticipated renewal cycle of PCs, which saw increased sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, is likely to further propel this growth.
Smartphones, previously a leading sector in adopting AI technology, are expected to see a slowdown in demand. According to Alexander Harrowell, Principal Analyst for Advanced Computing at Omdia, this is due to market saturation, as a majority of smartphones now feature some form of AI acceleration, and growth is primarily concentrated in the higher-priced segments.
The Omdia report also analyzes the market based on various processor types, including in-CPU accelerators, AI-ASICs, AI-ASSPs, GPUs, and FPGAs, across different performance levels. A notable trend is the phasing out of systems-on-chips with basic acceleration, introduced around 2018-2019, in favor of more advanced versions. This has resulted in a shift towards higher performance tiers, with significant growth observed in the top performance group (>30 TOPS). Proprietary AI-ASSPs, such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon and MediaTek’s APU, are expected to account for a substantial portion of the market growth, rising from 19% to 28%, often at the expense of GPUs.
