Arm, Intel and AMD update upcoming CPUs: a big boost for on-device assistants

Arm, Intel, and AMD are reworking their next chip designs so more generative AI can run directly on phones and laptops. You’ll start seeing that in the next wave of Windows 11 PCs and next-generation smartphones.

The main shift is where the work gets done. Instead of sending every AI request to the cloud, or asking a power-hungry GPU to take care of it all, more of those tasks should run on the CPU alongside NPUs. That can mean less lag, better privacy for your messages, documents, and photos, and lower power use. Industry estimates put many NPU workloads at 5 to 10W, compared with roughly 30 to 40W on a GPU. If those estimates hold up, that could translate to about 1.5 to 3 extra hours of laptop battery life.

On the PC side, AMD says its Zen 5-based Ryzen AI 300 chips can reach up to 50 TOPS, about three times the last generation. Intel is making a similar claim: it says Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake are aiming for roughly triple the neural performance of earlier chips, with Lunar Lake expected to clear 40 TOPS for Copilot+ PCs.

On the mobile side, Arm says Cortex-X925 improves AI performance by 41%. It’s also pushing its Kleidi libraries for PyTorch and TensorFlow, which should make CPU acceleration easier to work with. Intel and AMD are also backing ACE to standardize x86 AI features.

If you use assistants, writing tools, or image features on a regular basis, this is something to watch. Still, it’s smart to wait for independent battery and speed tests before putting too much weight on the early numbers.

You won’t download this as an app. It’ll arrive in upcoming Windows 11 PCs and next-generation smartphones.