TL;DR
• ASUS framing “agentic AI” (local, on-device) as next PC frontier
• AMD chips: positioned for local AI + gaming workloads
• Qualcomm Snapdragon: coming to affordable Vivobook/Zenbook lines in H2 2025
• Microsoft collaboration to optimize Windows for lower RAM configurations
The first wave of AI PCs focused on software, but the hardware never caught up. Copilot+ PCs launched with Microsoft’s support, NPU benchmarks made headlines, but most users didn’t see a real benefit. There was no must-have feature.
ASUS believes that is about to change, and it’s building its next product lineup around this shift.
Speaking at a media roundtable ahead of Computex 2026, ASUS APAC GM Peter Chang described a rapid evolution in the AI PC landscape that the company believes is approaching an inflection point. “The AI landscape has evolved rapidly over the last six months, moving beyond simple chatbots to what we are now calling ‘agentic AI’ embedded directly into PCs,” Chag said. “Tomorrow at Computex, you will see how ASUS is preparing for this new era.”
The difference between chatbot AI and agentic AI is important. Chatbot AI waits for your prompts. Agentic AI works on its own. It can manage your calendar, handle multi-step tasks, use your apps, and finish workflows without you watching over it. Think of it as less like a search engine and more like an assistant that actually gets things done.
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ASUS is now selling laptops with Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm chips, and it’s giving each one a clear job. AMD’s top processors are aimed at heavy, local agentic AI and gaming. The focus on local processing means ASUS expects some AI tasks to run fully on the device, without needing the cloud. This matters for privacy, speed, and for users in India who deal with unreliable networks.
ASUS is using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips for thin-and-light laptops that need long battery life. The company will add Snapdragon chips to its more affordable Vivobook and Zenbook models in the second half of 2026. To keep prices down without sacrificing performance, ASUS is working with Microsoft to improve Windows performance on laptops with 8GB of RAM.
This partnership means the next Copilot+ PCs will not only be expensive models. ASUS wants to bring powerful AI hardware to the ₹50,000 to ₹70,000 price ran which is where most Indian laptop buyers actually shop.
ASUS still hasn’t shown what agentic AI will actually do for most users in India, and no one else has either. But the hardware is coming together. What ASUS shows at Computex will reveal if this is real progress or just another round of spec-sheet marketing.
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