WEBVTT - Qualcomm CEO  Cristiano Amon Talks Robotics, AI

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey, our Bloomberg Tech team is there on the ground

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<v Speaker 2>at the annual Consumer Tech summit known as CEES. Right now,

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<v Speaker 2>Bloomberg Tech co host Caroline Hyde sitting down with Christiano Amman,

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<v Speaker 2>CEO and President of Qualcom.

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<v Speaker 1>Caroline, take it away, Carol, thank you. It is a

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<v Speaker 1>party vibe out here at CES and a man who

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<v Speaker 1>knows all about music from his hometown in Brazil, you'll

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<v Speaker 1>be able to cope with the noise level, Christiano. But

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<v Speaker 1>you're part of not the noise, but the statements being

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<v Speaker 1>made here at the moment robotics, when it comes to

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<v Speaker 1>a future of autonomous driving, when it comes to physical AI,

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<v Speaker 1>talk to us about robots. Where's your technology really leading

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<v Speaker 1>the charge there?

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, Look, we're incredibly excited about this is a new chapter.

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<v Speaker 3>I think of the Qualcom expansion and diversification. I think

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<v Speaker 3>we're going to robotics. We like robotics a lot because,

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<v Speaker 3>by definition, is an EDGEAI problem to solve, not different

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<v Speaker 3>than what we did in automotive. You cannot put a

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<v Speaker 3>server in a robot. You need battery life, you need

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<v Speaker 3>a lot of integration, a sensors and physical AI is

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<v Speaker 3>a massive opportunity and it's an EDGAI opportunity. So as

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<v Speaker 3>we look at this transition of qualcom into new industry,

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<v Speaker 3>we went to automotive to PC to industrial to data center.

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<v Speaker 3>Now robotics this is next opportunity. We actually have a

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<v Speaker 3>number of robots here at our booth at CS demonstrating

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<v Speaker 3>training humanoids industrial. I think we started the year working

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<v Speaker 3>with some of the you know, great companies German, Kuka,

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<v Speaker 3>figure AI, and I think it's going to be a

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<v Speaker 3>great opportunity and robotics it's perfect for you to have

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<v Speaker 3>high performance computing and low power connectivity is an edge

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<v Speaker 3>AI problem and I think it's going to be the

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<v Speaker 3>next big wave of AI physical.

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<v Speaker 1>AI and how soon is that reality? Already we have

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<v Speaker 1>robots in manufacturing and industrials, but how soon is it

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<v Speaker 1>fully autonomous robots? How soon do we start to have

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<v Speaker 1>the humanoid versions in our houses.

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<v Speaker 3>Look the way we think about this is things that

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<v Speaker 3>you didn't well possible to do with a robot, you

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<v Speaker 3>can do it right now use an AI. I think

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<v Speaker 3>industrial robot is the big largest opportunity that we see

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<v Speaker 3>in front of us, and it's probably started as early

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<v Speaker 3>as twenty twenty six. When you use AI to train

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<v Speaker 3>a robot on one given task, it's a very well

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<v Speaker 3>defined problem, and you can do this and you put

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<v Speaker 3>into production consumer robot, the one that is going to

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<v Speaker 3>be in your house and do everything for you. It's

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<v Speaker 3>gonna take a little bit of time, but it's going

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<v Speaker 3>to happen, and it's going to be a big opportunity.

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<v Speaker 3>I like to do this parallel that we saw with automotive.

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<v Speaker 3>When we start talking about autonomous cars, a lot of

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<v Speaker 3>companies went in and said, we're just going to get

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<v Speaker 3>this full autonomou robotaxing. But until you get there, you

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<v Speaker 3>can do assisted riving to every car in the road,

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<v Speaker 3>assuming that the driver is there to pick it up.

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<v Speaker 3>And we've seen Adas level two, Level three Highway Highway autopilot.

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<v Speaker 3>That's what we're doing. I think the same parallel applies

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<v Speaker 3>to robotics. First, you have a lot of enterprise in

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<v Speaker 3>the industrial applications. We see companies, for example, in retail

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<v Speaker 3>at night, robot go to the aisles of the supermarket

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<v Speaker 3>and restart the shelves, something very simple. That opportunity is

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<v Speaker 3>happening right now. Over time, we're going to have the

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<v Speaker 3>domestic robot that will do everything for you.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, let's go to your car focus though, because your

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<v Speaker 1>DNA is mobile. But then it has indeed gone to robotics.

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<v Speaker 1>But also this is where you've dominated. Look, we've just

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<v Speaker 1>had Jenson Wim on stage saying, hey, I'm getting into

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<v Speaker 1>the world of autonomous driving platforms too. How do you

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<v Speaker 1>see that ecosystem involving Okay.

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<v Speaker 3>The most important thing is to really understand what's happening car.

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<v Speaker 3>Car becomes a digital product. So from Qualcom we're going

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<v Speaker 3>to have a slightly different perspect We think that the

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<v Speaker 3>most important part of the car digital experience is the

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<v Speaker 3>digital cockpit, because the digital cockpit became a new computing surface.

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<v Speaker 3>Like your phone is a computing surface, the laptops a

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<v Speaker 3>computing service. Now the car and when you think about

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<v Speaker 3>AI coming into the car agentic experiences, that is very natural.

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<v Speaker 3>Voice is very natural. That's going to happen to the

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<v Speaker 3>cockpit today. I think we're just announced we have now

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<v Speaker 3>seventy five million cars now in the road with the

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<v Speaker 3>call on digital cockpit. Our pipeline is transforming into revenue

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<v Speaker 3>and we're designed in with virtually every car company using

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<v Speaker 3>the digital cockpit. The next car is what's happening in autonomy.

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<v Speaker 3>And in autonomy you have this transition you can bring

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<v Speaker 3>to bring safety and reduce accidents. You can bring assistem

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<v Speaker 3>driving to every car starting with level two all the

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<v Speaker 3>way up, and then you're going to have full autonomy.

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<v Speaker 3>So we have been actually driving the processor for this

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<v Speaker 3>assisted driving, and now with a stack that we develop

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<v Speaker 3>with bmwe launch it's available. People are testing the car

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<v Speaker 3>here at CES and he's available to every OEM to

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<v Speaker 3>have assisted driving in every car, every car model, and

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<v Speaker 3>eventually you're going to get in a couple of years

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<v Speaker 3>to our fully autonomous cars. Yes, I think Tesla is

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<v Speaker 3>probably ahead. I will say the other solutions a couple

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<v Speaker 3>of years out, but you're going to get to it.

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<v Speaker 3>I think fully autonomous cars, but you're going to have

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<v Speaker 3>out some level of autonomy in every single car.

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<v Speaker 1>And you talk about Tesla being ahead, like you know,

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<v Speaker 1>Moscus said he's not losing sleep over Jensenwan coming after

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<v Speaker 1>that piece of the pie. And of course they have

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<v Speaker 1>a client relationship to who can win and how many

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<v Speaker 1>players can win.

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<v Speaker 3>Look, there's gonna be different types of car ownership. Some

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<v Speaker 3>people wanted to drive the car. Some people wanted to

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<v Speaker 3>have an assisted driving, people want to not own a car,

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<v Speaker 3>some people want to robotex It's a it's a big opportunity.

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<v Speaker 3>I think there's going to be multiple players that are

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<v Speaker 3>going to win. I feel the issue of fully autonomous cars,

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<v Speaker 3>the biggest feature that you have to sell is safety.

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<v Speaker 3>How safety, How safe is your solution is? And I

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<v Speaker 3>think those takes time and one of the advantages. Teslas

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<v Speaker 3>have been doing this for longer, so they have a

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<v Speaker 3>lot of miles or real word miles, not only simulation

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<v Speaker 3>to perfect the solution.

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<v Speaker 2>But it's going to happen.

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<v Speaker 3>It's going to be a reality of many car companies

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<v Speaker 3>in the next few years.

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<v Speaker 1>And of course you've got a strong relationship with Google

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<v Speaker 1>when it comes to being within the auto as well

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<v Speaker 1>in many ways. Take us there for where you see

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<v Speaker 1>the next innovations. Robots were almost there, cars were already there.

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<v Speaker 1>Everyone I'm seeing is getting excited about the wearables, the pennons,

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<v Speaker 1>the jewelry. Where does quankom play in that, because that's

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<v Speaker 1>an edge device.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, this is another area of excitement for Qualcom because

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<v Speaker 3>we are probably now willing to make a statement that

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<v Speaker 3>is the evolution of mobile platform. Phones are not going anywhere.

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<v Speaker 3>Phones are incredibly useful. They will continue to be useful

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<v Speaker 3>in the same way that when the smartphone arrived, your

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<v Speaker 3>laptop didn't go anywhere. However, when you think about AI

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<v Speaker 3>and agentic experiences, this AI agent that is with you

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<v Speaker 3>all the time and you're gonna ask a question and

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<v Speaker 3>you'll answer, will help you navigate, help you do your

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<v Speaker 3>daily fan that's gonna happen with wearables. Humans already decided

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<v Speaker 3>what they're gonna wear. They're gonna wear glasses and jewelry

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<v Speaker 3>and watches and rings, and you can put an agent

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<v Speaker 3>connect to it give you context because something you wear

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<v Speaker 3>all the time. So we're starting the immersions of those

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<v Speaker 3>smart wearables personal AI devices. We're excited about it because

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<v Speaker 3>this require for you to make something that is small,

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<v Speaker 3>a lot of performance, low power. So every major AI

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<v Speaker 3>company that is doing a device is designing with Callcom

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<v Speaker 3>right now. We have redesign and some of those are

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<v Speaker 3>being announced CS, some will be announced through of the year.

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<v Speaker 3>But personal devices are the neo mobile platform.

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<v Speaker 1>Wow. Okay, So if that's the way we're going to

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<v Speaker 1>be doing wearables, where is the future PCs? Because that

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<v Speaker 1>was the first sort of broadening out and AIPCS has

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<v Speaker 1>it really caught on and people wanting to go there.

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<v Speaker 1>Is it more enterprise adoption versus a consumer adoption. Yes.

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<v Speaker 3>So the Microsoft just launched the new version of Windows

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<v Speaker 3>with agents, and I think we've all been kind of

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<v Speaker 3>waiting for this moment, and you're starting to see a

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<v Speaker 3>lot of the SaaS companies there are being spent the

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<v Speaker 3>past deck decade going to the cloud creating agents as well.

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<v Speaker 3>So I think we're just at the beginning of the

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<v Speaker 3>inflection point of AIPCS is more at an enterprise play

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<v Speaker 3>than the consumer play, even though it will be part

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<v Speaker 3>of a lot of consumer use cases, and I remain

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<v Speaker 3>optimistic about it. Our PC business were just started. We

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<v Speaker 3>have about one hundred and fifty designs. Most of our

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<v Speaker 3>designs is because people wanted to do a thin and

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<v Speaker 3>light and multi day battery life. But now that you're

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<v Speaker 3>going to put AI running all the time, that's where

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<v Speaker 3>we're gonna shine of unplugged performance and it's gonna happen.

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<v Speaker 3>I think it's gonna happen, and the enterprise boom of AI.

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<v Speaker 3>You're going to see a lot of AIPCS associated what

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<v Speaker 3>is happening on the data center as well.

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<v Speaker 1>So Christiana, for all those people out there who are like,

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<v Speaker 1>this is a bubble, this is the real return on

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<v Speaker 1>AI investment isn't coming yet. What do you say to

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<v Speaker 1>that sort of critique?

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<v Speaker 3>Not for us. I think we're doing We're doing things

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<v Speaker 3>on the edge, the stuff that humans are buying, and

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<v Speaker 3>I think when we're going into the data center is

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<v Speaker 3>for inference. But here's the answer to your question. Everybody's

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<v Speaker 3>playing to win, right, so we've seen this movie before.

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<v Speaker 3>Everybody's playing to win. Everybody's building capacity to win. Will

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<v Speaker 3>everybody win? Probably not. There are gonna be few winners.

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<v Speaker 3>And I think the way to think about this is

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<v Speaker 3>maybe maybe in the short term you could argue that,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, maybe there's an overinvestment. I think it's a

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<v Speaker 3>it's a natural consequence of everybody playing to win. But

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<v Speaker 3>in the long run, I still believe AI is under hype.

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<v Speaker 3>And the way I'll do the parallel for you. The

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<v Speaker 3>Internet in the year two thousand was probably over hyped.

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<v Speaker 3>But in the year two thousand, when people thought what

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<v Speaker 3>the Internet would be today was a fraction, It's much

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<v Speaker 3>bigger than what they thought it would be, and I

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<v Speaker 3>think AI is going to be the same thing.

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<v Speaker 1>Christiana Aman so great to get your ultimism and here

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<v Speaker 1>right on the floor of CS