AMD’s first commercial PC deal with Dell Technologies will help the company gain more acceptance from enterprises, according to a top Dell partner. ‘There’s no doubt that that’s going to help AMD take some additional market share,’ says Bob Venero, CEO of Future Tech Enterprise.
AMD said it has won its first deal to supply Ryzen AI Pro chips to commercial PCs made by Dell Technologies, opening another channel for the chip designer to compete with Intel.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company announced the commercial PC deal with Dell at its CES 2025 keynote Monday, where it also revealed the new Ryzen AI Max chips for next-generation AI PCs as well as several other Ryzen product lines for desktops and laptops.
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According to AMD, the new Dell Pro portfolio of notebooks and desktops, also announced Monday, will come with options for its Ryzen AI Pro 300 series that debuted last year and expanded with midrange options this week. These chips, like the latest Intel Core Ultra processors, come with a CPU, GPU and neural processing unit (NPU), which is designed to handle sustained AI workloads such as Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC features.
Like Intel’s vPro platform for commercial PCs, the Ryzen AI Pro processors come with extra security, manageability and reliability features for businesses under the umbrella of the AMD Pro Technologies brand. Last year, AMD Pro Technologies added four new features, including a second-generation AMD Secure Processor and Cloud Bare Metal Recovery.
“Ryzen AI Pro CPUs are built to handle today’s workflows and tomorrow’s AI demands, and when combined with the power of a Dell PC, they create the perfect combination for the enterprise,” Jack Huynh, senior vice president and general manager of the computing and graphics group at AMD, said in a statement.
While AMD reached a record 23.9 percent in x86 CPU market share for the PC segment in the third quarter last year, the company managed to do so in part by gaining acceptance from other OEMs, including HP Inc. and Lenovo, for commercial PC designs over the past several years after launching its revitalized PC strategy with the Ryzen brand in 2017.
Dell, on the other hand, held out from expanding its CPU options beyond Intel for commercial PCs—until now—while it found other ways to work with AMD, mainly through its EPYC CPUs for servers and Threadripper CPUs for workstations.
Sam Burd, president of Dell’s Client Solutions Group, said the nascent but growing AI PC category made it necessary for the OEM to work with AMD on the commercial PC side.
“This progress depends on cutting-edge silicon innovation, which is why we’ve worked to engineer AMD Ryzen AI Pro processors into our new Dell Pro portfolio,” he said.
The leader of a major U.S. solution provider and top Dell partner said AMD’s commercial PC deal with Dell will help the chip designer gain more acceptance from enterprises.
“Dell is going to bring credibility to the product line just based on their sheer size and volume that they’re doing, so there’s no doubt that that’s going to help AMD take some additional market share,” said Bob Venero, CEO of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Future Tech Enterprise, which is No. 76 on CRN’s 2024 Solution Provider 500 list.
