"Korea is the only place in Asia where Intel has opened a pop-up store. Korea is a hub for the artificial intelligence (AI) PC market, and it is an important market, as about 40% of Intel processor-based PCs sold at major retailers are AI PCs."
Greg Ernst, vice president and head of Intel's Sales and Marketing Group, said this at a press briefing for the opening of Intel's pop-up store held on the first floor of the OPUS building in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 28th. Intel said it is opening a total of five pop-up stores in New York, London, Munich, Paris, and Seoul, where it will showcase its PC processor solutions optimized for the AI PC market.
With the AI PC market expected to grow rapidly, Intel is also tightening its push into the AI PC processor market. Last year, Intel released for the first time its Core Ultra series of AI PC processors that include not only the central processing unit (CPU), the brain of the PC, but also the graphics processing unit (GPU) for AI computation and the Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which maximizes inference and power efficiency. According to market research firm Gartner, next year global AI PC shipments are expected to reach 143 million units, surpassing 50% of the overall PC market. With AI PC shipments projected to jump to nearly double this year's estimate of 77.8 million units, AI PCs' share of the overall PC market is expected to surge by more than 20 percentage points (P).
Intel said it plans to strengthen its push in the Korean market by releasing its next-generation AI PC processor in January next year. Last month, Intel unveiled a new processor called "Panther Lake" targeting the AI PC market. The product combines a CPU, GPU, and NPU produced on the 1.8-nanometer (nm, one-billionth of a meter) Intel 18A process. Ernst said, "The next-generation processor, Panther Lake, will be released in January next year," adding, "We will return to Korea ahead of next year's back-to-school season, the peak season for laptops."
Intel also said it plans to solidify collaboration with domestic partners. Intel supplies processors to all domestic PC manufacturers, including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. Ernst said, "Korea is home to world-class PC manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics," adding, "We plan to strengthen cooperation not only with Korean software corporations such as HANCOM, Upstage, and GGQ, but also with distribution channels such as Gmarket and Coupang."
At the event, Kim Yeon-su, CEO of HANCOM, said, "Through cooperation with Intel, we developed a lightweight AI agent model that consumers can access more easily," adding, "It will be used for tools such as 'Hancom Assistant,' an intelligent document authoring tool that can boost work efficiency, and 'Hancompedia,' which helps efficiently search the contents of document files through natural language and keyword search functions, as well as for data security."
Lee Yong-su, CEO of GGQ, which develops AI agents for gaming, said, "Based on Intel processors, we developed an AI agent that introduces AI technology to set up customized pre-game strategies and provides real-time game guides and reactions during play," adding, "It will be a tool to resolve gamers' pain points of insufficient information about games and emotional stress."