AI PCs Have Entered the Infrastructure Chat: What Channel Partners Need to Know

The ‘Are we AI ready?’ conversation has reached the desktop. AI PCs are increasingly important to AI transformation as organizations scale from AI pilots to agentic AI production and navigate sticky challenges around AI security, cost, latency and data privacy.

In a 2026 global IDC survey (conducted for AMD), 81 percent of IT leaders said their organization is planning, piloting or deploying AI PCs. IT decision-makers from the survey said the most important benefits of AI PCs were faster performance and reduced latency (70 percent), better data security from on-device AI processing (58 percent) and high-performance NPUs driving the next evolution of AI innovations (60 percent).

“AI PC should be part of every single decision that a company is making because it involves security, latency, cost and token cost," said Todd Gustafson, president HP Federal LLC & U.S. public sector for HP Inc. “Any organization, whether it’s public or private, should be investing in AI PCs.”

Endpoint Modernization Is The Foundation Of AI Readiness

With the rise of AI-powered PCs, infrastructure optimization now includes endpoint modernization and PC refresh cycles. To operationalize AI, organizations may require endpoints that can support intensive AI workloads.

AI PCs can process AI tasks directly on the device, reducing the processing delays and higher inferencing costs associated with sending data to cloud-based applications. On-device processing can deliver more responsive AI processes, which in turn improves user experiences and increases AI use for everyday tasks.

Jason Mooneyham, corporate vice president, global commercial channel & North America channel chief, AMD, emphasized that the value of these systems comes from helping employees work more effectively. "It's not, 'How do I replace people?' It's, 'How do I make people more productive utilizing these tools?' That's going to start with the device they're using every day."

Channel partners play a high-impact role modernizing customers’ PC fleets for the AI era. In addition to hardware refreshes, partners can help customers determine where AI-ready endpoints will deliver the greatest business value. Assessments can identify which AI applications should run locally and which should be cloud-based, which employees run the most AI-intensive workloads, which teams need local inferencing and dedicated NPUs, and where legacy devices are slowing business-critical initiatives.

Local AI Enables More Protected And Efficient Workflows

With autonomous AI model hacks in the headlines, organizations understand that speed and performance gains from AI can be quickly undermined without strong security and governance guardrails in place. AI PCs can help address fast-rising security and compliance threats through localized, on-device workloads. Businesses can keep sensitive documents, regulated data like personally identifiable information (PII) and intellectual property on governed devices rather than risking exposure in cloud environments.

AI PCs also create opportunities to improve productivity while preparing for tomorrow's AI-driven workloads. Rather than focusing solely on device specifications, partners can help customers align endpoint decisions with broader AI strategies, ensuring employees have the capabilities they need today and in the near- and long-term.

“If you look at the cost benefit analysis of making the decision twice by not investing in AI PCs now and then investing at a later time, we know it's always more costly to do it twice than do it once,” Gustafson said.

Partners have an entry point to expand advisory and long-term service relationships focused on AI enablement and innovation. Opportunities include endpoint security assessments, endpoint lifecycle management, identity and access management, and AI governance and acceptable-use frameworks.

Partners can also help customers understand when to use on-device and cloud-based AI, while building user confidence through training.

“Partners now bring a value proposition that expands beyond simple speeds and feeds into how AI PCs fit into the customer’s overall AI strategy,” said Mooneyham. “How will each person carrying a PC in their organization benefit from the value of AI PCs.”

Build An AI Readiness Practice With HP And AMD

Guiding infrastructure strategy and supporting performance and security through on-device AI capabilities builds trust with organizations preparing for the future of work today.

HP AI PCs powered by AMD Ryzen^TM AI PRO processors can enable channel partners to deliver advanced AI experiences to end users, while fostering confidence in AI initiatives at a time when expectations are high to show measurable AI ROI across the enterprise.

Learn how to power on-device AI innovation for your customers with HP and AMD.