I saw a wave of Copilot+ PCs at CES 2026, but it felt like they were chasing an AI PC strategy that Microsoft has already abandoned. With Microsoft now downplaying NPUs and few applications taking advantage of them, the great NPU push doesn\u2019t feel very important<\/a>. That\u2019s especially true since the Windows AI Foundry will use GPUs and CPUs for AI applications instead of NPUs, as the initial Copilot Runtime did.<\/p>\n NPUs seem less necessary to the future of AI on Windows, even as they\u2019re starting to pop up everywhere. Did Microsoft get distracted just as its PC hardware partners crossed the finish line?<\/p>\n At CES 2026, NPUs finally feel fast enough<\/p>\n When Microsoft unveiled Copilot+ PCs<\/a>, the company required NPUs capable of at least 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS).<\/p>\n This was a huge blow to Intel. Most Intel-powered machines have been shipping with NPUs capable of 13 TOPS at best, aside from Lunar Lake-powered machine<\/a> with NPUs capable of 48 TOPS. 2024 was \u201cthe year of the AI PC<\/a>,\u201d but even throughout 2025 most laptops I reviewed couldn\u2019t muster the specs needed for AI features on Windows 11.<\/p>\n I spoke to PC manufacturer PR people who showed me the new versions of laptops I reviewed last year. \u201cAnd it\u2019s a Copilot+ PC,\u201d they say proudly. It seems they\u2019ve finally caught up to the requirements.<\/p>\n The NPUs everyone\u2019s talking about at CES<\/p>\n Intel\u2019s Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) hardware<\/a> is the big advance at this year\u2019s CES, given that Intel was so far behind on NPUs before. Core Ultra Series 3 has a 50 TOPS NPU and also promises big improvements to multithreaded performance, but we\u2019ll have to run our own benchmarks to see just how big an upgrade it is in practice.<\/p>\n While Intel\u2019s Lunar Lake hardware was Copilot+ PC-capable, it was severely limited on multithreaded performance, which meant that an Intel laptop had no hope of running Copilot+ PC features unless you were willing to make big performance sacrifices and prioritize low power consumption and long battery life.<\/p>\n Foundry \/ Mark Hachman<\/p>\n AMD\u2019s Ryzen AI 400 series hardware<\/a> includes an NPU capable of 60 TOPS, and it\u2019s coming to both laptops and desktop PCs. While AMD has been delivering capable NPUs for a while\u2014unlike Intel-powered laptops\u2014it\u2019s an increase from the 50 TOPS NPUs in the Ryzen AI 300 series. However, with so few applications taking advantage of the NPU, that bump of 10 TOPS won\u2019t be noticeable to the average laptop buyer, even if it looks like an upgrade on a spec sheet.<\/p>\n Qualcomm is extremely proud of its TOPS speeds, highlighting that the Qualcomm Hexagon NPUs on Snapdragon X2 Elite<\/a> and Snapdragon X2 Plus<\/a> hardware deliver 80 TOPS of performance. Qualcomm\u2019s Snapdragon X platform was the big launch partner for Copilot+ PCs, and Qualcomm is once again ahead. But as it was during the flashy Copilot+ PC launch, there still isn\u2019t a great argument for NPUs just yet.<\/p>\n All those new processor platforms are now delivering fully capable NPUs that will end up in laptops from all the big PC manufacturers. Going into 2026, Copilot+ PC-capable NPUs are finally becoming much more common. But will it matter?<\/p>\n All Windows 11 PCs are now AI PCs<\/p>\n Back in October, Microsoft revealed its plan to make every Windows 11 PC an AI PC<\/a>. Here\u2019s what Yusuf Mehdi told reporters at the time:<\/p>\n \u201cWe did all of this years of work that let us get to the point of understanding what\u2019s the right way to bring AI in. We\u2019ve learned a lot from that\u2014you know, what features resonate. And one of the big things that I think really came to us is, while Copilot+ PCs really are the tip of the spear and are gaining, you know, fast traction, the big thing was, let\u2019s bring that AI capability to all Windows 11 PCs and make it really simple for anyone to try it. So, that has been the big thing.\u201d<\/p>\n As we turn the corner and head into 2026, it doesn\u2019t sound like Microsoft is all that excited about NPUs anymore! And that\u2019s without even mentioning the Windows AI Foundry<\/a>. Developers can use it to write AI apps that perform inference on GPUs, CPUs, or NPUs. It replaces the Copilot Runtime, which required an NPU on Copilot+ PCs.<\/p>\n Copilot+ PC features haven\u2019t taken the world by storm<\/p>\n I was in a Lyft earlier this week in Las Vegas. After asking me what I did for a living, the driver mentioned he was still using Windows 11. \u201cThere\u2019s probably a newer version by now, right?\u201d<\/p>\n No, I explained: Windows 11 is still the latest version. You get some extra AI features if you have a newer PC\u2014but only certain newer PCs.<\/p>\n On those Copilot+ PCs, you don\u2019t get extra Copilot features. Instead, you get minor features like Windows Studio Effects webcam effects, image generation in the Photos app, Windows Recall<\/a> for searching your PC usage, and Click To Do<\/a> for taking basic actions on text.<\/p>\n Chris Hoffman \/ Foundry<\/p>\n Based on Microsoft\u2019s talk about delivering more AI features to all Windows 11 users, I don\u2019t expect NPUs to become the crown jewel of the Windows AI experience in the future. If anything, I expect the opposite: I can picture a Windows 11 update that delivers Copilot+ PC features to a wider variety of machines, letting your PC\u2019s GPU power features like image generation and text summarization. That\u2019s what I hope to see.<\/p>\n Microsoft should\u2019ve never required NPUs for Copilot+ PC features. Even my $3,000 gaming PC still can\u2019t run Copilot+ PC AI features<\/a>, which is astonishing considering the fact that a speedy discrete GPU is still the best way to run more \u201cserious\u201d AI tools like LM Studio.<\/p>\n![\"Intel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260105_151338.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Windows](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Windows-Studio-Effects-on-Copilot-Plus-laptop-screenshot.png\")
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