Technology vendor Acer has emphasised the need for hardware to keep pace with the development of AI-driven software as organisations look to leverage AI-driven innovation.
Glenn du Toit, country manager and director at Acer Africa, says agentic AI will increasingly be integrated into devices this year to make them faster, lighter and more economic. The company is preparing to bring the Acer Google Book, a high-end laptop built around Google's AI-native computing platform, to SA, though it has not yet shared pricing or availability details.
Acer has structured its business around four pillars: computing, AI medical, smart living and sustainability.
“We are seeing a shift globally and it is taking place quickly… devices that we’ve been used to are now changing to become more mobile and more agile, and potentially less heavy in operations,” says Du Toit.
This matters because memory shortages, high build costs and demand for hardware capable of hosting heavier AI workloads have pushed up the cost of AI PCs. Much of the functionality of previous processor generations does not rely on a neural processing unit, but that is beginning to change as more processing moves into the AI realm.
“Initially we had multicore products that pushed the prices of devices up. The message is that while the hardware may have gone up in the traditional sense, the cost of operations is coming down,” says Du Toit.
According to Acer, the need to strike a balance between hardware and software within AI environments will only grow. “That’s the nature of technology. Hardware must keep up with the speed at which AI is infused with software, failing which there will be more vulnerabilities and impact on performance.”
Du Toit emphasised the ongoing collaboration between Acer and its partners Intel, Microsoft and Nvidia to help meet demand for AI-powered solutions.
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