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AI dominates CES as chipmakers showcase new technology

Reporter Grace Chang (張如嫻 ) / Business Today (今周刊) / Photography Eric Chen (陳睿緯) / Business Today (今周刊) / Editor Dimitri Bruyas (Translator) / TVBS World Taiwan
Release time:2025/01/17 12:01
Last update time:2025/01/17 12:01
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AI dominates CES as chipmakers showcase new technology (Courtesy of Business Today) AI dominates CES as chipmakers showcase new technology
AI dominates CES as chipmakers showcase new technology (Courtesy of Business Today)

TAIPEI (Business Today/TVBS News) — The 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES, 美國消費性電子展) centered on AI again. Chipmakers presented the latest chips, while brands introduced new AI PCs. Among the new tech, robots, and health technology attracted significant attention, underscoring AI's deep penetration into everyday life.

Held in Las Vegas from Jan. 7 to 10, the annual CES featured prominent global tech firms and startups introducing their standout products and technologies for the year. NVIDIA (輝達) CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) introduced the GeForce RTX 50 series graphics card, boasting up to three times the performance of earlier models. The RTX 5070, offering the same performance as the RTX 4090 at a third of the price, amazed attendees.

 

As 2025 begins, the most powerful tech event continues to revolve around AI, enhancing hardware computing speed and efficiency while fostering new software applications in PCs, robots, and healthcare. The Business Today team attended CES, uncovering three key trends where AI further embeds itself into consumer lifestyles.

The 2025 CES centered on AI again (TVBS News)


The AI PC Showdown Enters its Second Phase
 
Intel, seeking to revitalize its position, introduced the Intel Core Ultra H series processor, initially known as Arrow Lake, aimed at high-performance, lightweight laptops. This processor enhances gaming performance by 22% over the previous H series. Qualcomm pursued a different approach, focusing on mid-range PCs priced at about US$600 (approximately NT$19,000) by launching the fourth Snapdragon X series chip, which uses a 4-nanometer process to deliver extended battery life.

AMD revealed plans to expand its consumer and commercial AI PC offerings by launching the Ryzen AI 300 series processor. This processor delivers five times the performance of the first-generation neural network processor (NPU), surpassing 50 trillion operations per second (TOPS), and is set for release in the first quarter. AMD also introduced the Ryzen 200 series processor for more affordable PCs with lower AI requirements. This suggests that AMD and Qualcomm will face off directly with their AI chips in mid-to low-priced models.

In addition to the three main contenders, NVIDIA, a leader in GPUs, is eyeing the AI PC market. Wang Hsuan-Chih (王宣智), an analyst at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院), explained that AI PCs are designed to transition computing from the cloud to edge computing, with PCs acting as an entry point for market competition. Previous reports suggested that MediaTek (聯發科) and NVIDIA are planning to venture into the PC CPU market.

Taiwan's leading computer brands, Acer (宏碁) and ASUS, are instrumental in transforming AI PCs into tangible products. Acer unveiled its new Copilot+ PC lineup, featuring the sleek Swift Go AI series laptops and the budget-friendly Aspire 14 AI laptop. The latter marks Acer's first "mass-market" Copilot+ PC, priced at approximately US$800 (around NT$26,290), challenging the prevailing US$1,000-plus AI PC market. Acer emphasized that the new AI PCs will enhance functions such as video conferencing, noise cancellation, and image processing.

ASUS also showcased the Zenbook A14, the world's lightest Copilot+ PC, weighing less than 1 kilogram and featuring Qualcomm's Snapdragon X series processor. Its NPU can perform up to 45 trillion operations per second. For more affordable options, ASUS launched an AI PC starting at US$699 (NTD$20,000), boasting a 44% performance boost over its predecessor.

According to research agency IDC, AI PC shipments are expected to more than double between 2024 and 2027, comprising 60% of global PC shipments by 2027. Nonetheless, Wang contends that Copilot+ PCs must develop compelling applications that operate on the device to more effectively convince consumers to buy.

Robots Become More 'Human-like' with Smoother Interactions
During the exhibition, an Indian boy approached a robot, asking, "Where is my mom?" The robot scanned the surroundings, identified a woman, and described her features to the boy, inquiring, "Is this your mom?" The accurate response astonished the crowd.
 

Stephen Su (蘇孟宗), a senior vice president at ITRI, recounted this scenario, noting that the robot's ability to accurately identify the mother stemmed from observing the physical traits of the mother and child, as well as actions like "the mom taking pictures of the child." This illustrates AI's capacity to learn and autonomously connect data point.

Su mentioned that ITRI is working on robots with generative AI features, allowing them to "see" an object and recreate an exact replica through visual simulation, eliminating the need for extensive programming. Robots with the potential for significant industrial applications drew attention at the event. Notably, the robot dog from R2C2, backed by Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA, 台灣科技新創基地) and accelerator 500 Global, captured interest.

R2C2 focuses on developing the "brains" of robots, with its versatile robot management platform enabling real-time data processing and intelligent analysis on devices, mainly applied in tunnel and railway inspections. Founder San Wong (王𤨢燊) noted that this brain can function without internet connectivity, making it ideal for disaster relief or infrastructure maintenance. It has already been adopted by Hong Kong's MTR Corporation (香港鐵路) and power stations.

Event goers try out the 'High-Privacy AI Digital Caregiver' at CES (TVBS News)


Health technology integrated with AI offers more comprehensive care
 
In the realm of health technology and smart care, ITRI presented the intelligent medical assistant system "MedBobi" (醫護聲易通), employing multimodal generative AI and other technologies to swiftly produce medical reports.

Hsu Kai-Cheng (許凱程), medical director at ITRI's Biomedical and Material Research Laboratories, explained that the system can adjust to various identities and contexts, utilizing large language models and databases, with the ability to recognize 96 languages. Interactions between patients and physicians can be immediately organized into medical records, cutting healthcare workers' tasks by 75%. Additionally, the system combines voice, medical imaging, and medical records, offering personalized medical recommendations after AI analysis.

Another AI innovation, the "High-Privacy AI Digital Caregiver" (高隱私AI照護員), employs thermal imaging and millimeter-wave technology for non-contact monitoring of physiological data such as breathing and body temperature. It can also detect human posture to evaluate falls, decreasing alert time from an hour to under a minute.

Wang Yi-Chun (王奕竣), an engineer at ITRI's Sensing Center, mentioned that the system was approved by Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (FDA, 食品藥物管理署), achieving a detection accuracy of over 95%. More than ten units have been installed at Taipei City Hospitals, and the technology can potentially be licensed to private companies in the future.

For More Reading
This article is excerpted from the January issue of Business Today; for more articles, please visit their website
Here is the link to the Chinese story: 美國CES展》AI進入消費者生活!PC、機器人、醫療,三大新應用一次看 

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