ASUS Aims for Business PC Market with AI
Source: theregister.com
ASUS Targets Business PC Market
ASUS, currently ranked as the world’s fifth-largest PC maker, intends to increase its market share by focusing on business customers, according to Shawn Chang, Head of Go-To-Market for ASUS’s Commercial Business Unit. Chang told The Register that ASUS recognizes it is not always considered by PC fleet buyers.
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ASUS plans to change perceptions with robust products. Even ASUS’s entry-level business PCs include two memory and solid-state disk sockets, which allow for upgrades. ASUS believes businesses expect computers to last five to seven years. ASUS also incorporates durable USB ports into its PCs to prevent motherboard damage and costly repairs. A physical Trusted Platform Module is installed on business PCs, and BIOSes will receive updates for five years.
ASUS has invested in on-device AI. The “ExpertMeet” tool offers translation, transcription, and meeting summaries. The “AI Search” function indexes files on devices and can also access files from cloud storage, with user permission. AI Search can search, summarize, and create mind maps from the data users allow it to access. These tools are free.
ASUS will offer its AI software on machines for small-to-medium businesses to help them explore AI's potential without a subscription fee. Chang believes that a $30 per employee subscription is significant for small businesses and hopes that free AI will attract customers. For larger buyers, ASUS is willing to exclude AI from machines because of data security and privacy concerns.
Chang noted that while there is considerable interest in AI, many businesses have yet to implement it. ASUS believes that offering PCs without AI will not discourage buyers. ASUS announced its initial range of AI PCs powered by AMD CPUs in laptop, desktop, all-in-one, and mini-PC designs at Computex. ASUS also offers machines using Intel and Qualcomm processors.
The Register suggested to Chang that ASUS may find it difficult to gain traction with business buyers despite these innovations, given its strong brand in consumer and gaming PCs. Chang referred to ASUS’s earlier move from the motherboard market to gaming laptops in the early 2000s. At the time, the company created and dominated the gaming laptop market despite initial skepticism. He believes that this demonstrates ASUS's potential to achieve similar success in the business PC market.