From cloud to edge, we explore how businesses are shifting to a new decentralised AI-driven environment, with exclusive insight from Intel’s Large Enterprise Sales Specialist, Tom Pieser.

As AI accelerates and traditional IT systems grapple with mounting security risks and performance issues, innovation at a hardware level is becoming increasingly essential, helping businesses moving beyond the cloud – to the edge.

Promising greater processing power, real-time performance and robust security, hardware-enabled edge technologies are leading the way for forward-thinking businesses in the AI era.

Here we explore the role of AI PCs in bringing IT systems ‘to the edge,’ enabling security, efficiency and unrivalled performance in this new decentralised world.

Why hardware matters in the AI era

AI adoption is reaching fever pitch. Newfangled AI capabilities continue to emerge daily, and, in business, there is a massive drive to integrate these developments and to unlock advanced performance.

Behind the scenes, sophisticated hardware solutions – such as edge processors, built-in AI accelerators, and specialised memory units – are powering this transformation. With AI hardware, enterprises can process vast AI workloads with efficiency and scale at the source, shifting away from cloud dependency and vulnerable network-based solutions.

Purpose-built for the next era of AI software, AI PCs, such as those built on Intel vPro® and Intel® Core™ Ultra processors, provide many benefits for IT teams including faster responsiveness, preemptive threat detection and optimised resource allocation, helping reduce long-term costs and security risks.

Future-proofing competitiveness with AI PCs

More than just an upgrade, AI PCs are fast becoming a necessity for organisations looking to maintain competitiveness, security, efficiency and performance in an AI-first world.

When support for Windows 10 ends in October 2025, IT teams will be faced with big spending decisions. As Tom Pieser, points out, “If you refresh with hardware that doesn’t have AI capabilities, you’ll miss out on efficiency gains for years to come.”

Edge and hybrid approaches also have the upper hand over cloud processes when it somes to sustainability. Pieser notes, “Energy consumption in data centres is measured in kilowatts, whereas on an NPU, it’s measured in milliwatts. Shifting processing from the cloud to the [source] is a massive energy efficiency multiplier.”

Security and performance: Why AI PCs are a game-changer for IT departments

One of the strongest cases for AI PCs is security. An exploding number of security breaches in recent years has exposed the soft underbelly of IT systems that are reliant on cloud infrastructure and poorly equipped to tackle AI-enabled attacks.

Cloud breach risks more than doubled from 2019 to 2023 and in 2024, the Snowflake Attack – now regarded as one of the biggest data breaches of all time – saw hackers infiltrate cloud-based data analytics platform, Snowflake, and steal the data of hundreds of millions of users from global institutions including Santander, Ticketmaster and AT&T. 

By bringing AI ‘to the edge’, AI PCs simplify the complex landscape of IT security, reducing the amount of data transmitted to outside servers and enabling tighter privacy controls, massively reducing exposure to cyber threats. Additionally, threats that do arise can be detected quicker thanks to local processing of AI workloads that enable near real-time security insights.

“The average cost of a security breach is over $4 million, with some breaches costing far more than that,” Pieser explains. “Being able to combat that with our own AI-enabled security is more important now than ever – analogous to fighting fire with fire.”

Beyond security, AI PCs deliver broader efficiency gains. At Intel, the integration of neural processing units (NPUs) on its AI PCs has allowed for more efficient handling of AI workloads than with traditional CPUs or GPUs. 

“An NPU is a purpose-built piece of silicon that allows the PC to process AI-related tasks more effectively. It offloads some of those tasks from the CPU, which improves battery life and overall responsiveness,” Pieser explains.

AI PCs can also streamline workflows and enhance productivity by automating note-taking and accelerating complex calculations.

The Intel AI PC advantage

Despite being in their first generation, Intel’s AI PCs are already producing real-world impact on IT security and operational efficiency. In a collaboration with CrowdStrike, Intel has demonstrated how its AI PCs for Business can dramatically improve security response times while reducing system resource consumption. 

Traditionally, most endpoint security solutions rely on cloud-based AI to analyse threats, requiring data to be transmitted back and forth between the device and the cloud. This not only slows down response times, but also leads to higher costs and security risks. With Intel’s AI PCs, security threat detection happens locally on the device, leveraging the built-in NPU to offload tasks from the CPU. 

“Intel and CrowdStrike are now pushing the boundaries of what can be analysed on the endpoint with deep learning,” says Pieser. “We’re seeing security threats assessed much faster, and CPU usage dropping from 20 per cent to just 1 per cent.” 

As well as improving security response times, this hardware-based approach ensures that AI-driven threat detection does not slow down system performance – a common issue with traditional security software. As businesses face increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, AI PCs are well-placed to provide proactive, high-speed defences that provide comprehensive security whilst increasing productivity. 

Discover more AI PC use cases at Intel.com

The takeaway: Investing in AI PCs is a strategic move

As AI rapidly reshapes the workplace in new and wonderful ways, it’s clear that businesses must carefully consider their IT strategies going forward. A long-sighted approach acknowledges that NPU-equipped AI PCs are set to become the backbone of AI progress, allowing forward-thinking IT teams to reap the benefits of enhanced security, efficiency and cost-savings for many years to come.

The future of IT is at the edge, and businesses must act now to unlock its full potential. “An AI PC isn’t just an upgrade – it’s an investment in the future of work,” Pieser concludes.

Learn more about how AI PCs can support your business at Intel.com.