(Credit: Jeffrey Hazelwood/PCMag; Getty Images/Computex)
The theme for Computex 2026, according to organizer TAITRA, is “AI Together.” Sure, it sounds a little like a tech-industry group hug. But at Computex, the world’s biggest IT-specific trade show, the phrase also reflects a hard reality: No single company is building the future of AI alone. Chip makers, PC vendors, component suppliers, and software companies all converge in Taipei this time every year to shape what the next year of computing—and, increasingly, our very lives!—will actually look like.
CES, held in Las Vegas every January, grabs headlines for flashy consumer gadgets and buzzword overload. But Computex is way more than a mid-year check-in on that. It’s where the infrastructure of the tech world gets assembled—sometimes quite literally. If CES is where tech gets marketed, Computex is where it gets engineered.
PCMag will have a team on the ground checking in with players big and small: the chip makers (Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm), the Taiwan OEMs (Acer, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte), and a blizzard of supporting PC-centric players, The show floor opens on Tuesday, June 2, Taiwan time (Monday evening in the US), preceded by keynotes from Nvidia and Qualcomm on Taiwan’s Monday, and a smorgasbord of local events starting on Sunday. It runs through Friday, June 5.
Check in with us on PCMag.com on our Computex hub, as well as our social and YouTube channels, as we beam back everything this sprawling show has to offer. (Also monitor our Computex liveblog.) Based on the rumor mill and some early announcements, though, Computex 2026 is already taking shape. Here’s a rundown of what we expect to see. After all, at Computex, “AI Together” also means this: Every company wants a piece of the AI action. Here’s how we see those pieces falling into place. —John Burek, Executive Editor
1. Cheaper Chips: They're Coming for Budget Laptops
As RAM prices climb and inflation squeezes laptop shoppers, manufacturers were struggling to bring well-made yet affordable budget PCs to market. Then Apple dropped the MacBook Neo, which lit a fire under laptop makers. Quality laptops that cost less will require more-affordable processors, and we'll soon see cheaper CPUs from both Intel and Qualcomm.
Intel specifically designed its Core 3 series, codenamed "Wildcat Lake,” for budget laptops, Chromebooks, and mini PCs. Focused more on all-day battery life and AI capability, but with less raw power than more premium Panther Lake processors, Wildcat Lake chips use Intel's Xe3 graphics and have neural processing units (NPUs) capable of supporting on-device AI features, all with the same 18A (1.8nm) manufacturing process as its top chips. However, these CPUs use a six-core design that's better suited to web browsing and light use than for content creation or gaming.
(Credit: Qualcomm)Not to be outdone here, Qualcomm will also make a serious budget-processor play with its announced-for-Computex Snapdragon C chips. Built specifically for laptops starting at $300, the new CPUs also focus on both battery life and modest on-device AI, but without the more capable performance we see from Snapdragon X and X2 CPUs. Unlike Snapdragon X, which uses Qualcomm's Oryon-based cores, the new chips will use the same Kryo-derived CPU cores that Qualcomm has used on its phone chips in recent years. It's a remix of phone chips and Windows on Arm that doesn’t sound a million miles from Apple's decision to use its aging A18 Pro iPhone CPU in the MacBook Neo.
We still don't know a lot about Snapdragon C chips or the laptops they'll appear in, aside from Acer, HP, and Lenovo announcing their support. Still, we expect to learn a lot more during Computex as manufacturers announce their latest products. —Brian Westover, Lead Writer
2. Will Nvidia Finally Launch a Laptop SoC? This Is (Probably) the Year
It’s highly likely Nvidia will finally reveal its own PC silicon, possibly as a pair of consumer laptop SoCs at Computex: a premium flagship called the N1X, and a mainstream version known as the N1. Many watchers expect these to be Arm-based CPUs made to power consumer laptops, showing up in everything from premium ultraportables to gaming and creation laptops.
Rumors around the N1 and N1X have been swirling for quite a while—enough that we heard the same rumor last year—and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has openly said that PCs are part of Nvidia's broader ambitions. Recent collaborations with MediaTek and a partnership with Intel certainly play a part in those plans.
(Credit: Nvidia)However, in recent months, more signs of life for the rumored chips have appeared. Hardware news site VideoCardz.com reported benchmark test results from Geekbench and Furmark databases, showing a known codename for the N1X, with the PC in question running Windows. A laptop motherboard with Nvidia hardware surfaced on the Chinese reseller site Goofish. And The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia chips will appear in laptops from Dell, Lenovo, and others.
That's a lot of smoke. Does that mean fire? It all seems to point to a splashy Computex launch, with laptop announcements from one or more major manufacturers. —B.W.
3. AI Big Iron: Phase Two of the Artificial Intelligence Takeover
It's impossible to overstate how important server and cloud processing has become in the age of AI. And in that arena, we expect to see plenty of new data center hardware at Computex, a premier venue for such launches. With likely announcements from Intel, Nvidia, AMD, and other chip makers, Computex will kick off a giant industry push for more of the high-stakes "infrastructure silicon" powering the AI boom.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan will deliver a keynote at Computex that will focus on Intel's "momentum across compute, from AI PCs to the edge, data center, and cloud," which will likely focus on Intel's new "Clearwater Forest" server processor hardware and Intel 18A, the 1.8-nanometer process manufacturing node used to build it.
Nvidia will also contribute to the server conversation, and we expect Nvidia's Vera Rubin superchips to be a hot topic. Built for agentic AI, the single-board system delivers 100 petaflops of FP4 performance by combining an 88-core Vera CPU with a pair of Rubin GPUs. That's just one board, but when you pack several of those into a single server rack, it will serve as the backbone for some serious AI capabilities. Nvidia has been teasing Vera Rubin info for the last few trade shows; we’d expect more details next week.
(Credit: Nvidia)Back at CES 2026, AMD talked about building the hardware to deliver yotta-scale AI compute, and we expect more news at Computex about AMD's Zen 6-based Epyc server line, as well as data center hardware that uses cutting-edge diamond cooling technology. That said, AMD isn’t holding a blowout press event at Computex, so its announcements this time may be small-scale.
Suffice it to say that we expect a lot of news around AI server and cloud hardware during the show. While they may not appear in the personal devices we usually review, these chips absolutely play a role in the AI tools people use every day. —B.W.
4. New Desktop CPUs, Cheaper Memory? Probably Not in Taipei
The rush by the cloud makers to deploy AI hardware has caused a major components shortage, notably in memory; the giants are simply eating up manufacturing capacity. We’ve seen a few interesting market changes due to this, including renewed interest in older memory technologies like DDR4, Micron shuttering its consumer RAM and SSD business to focus on enterprise clients, and a few new companies entering the RAM market. Over the last few years, we’ve also seen several new memory technologies, such as CU-DIMM, HU-DIMM, and CAMM2, though thus far they’ve had limited market impact. This year feels like a roll of the dice as companies attempt to address the ongoing memory shortage, not to mention the demand for faster, higher-capacity memory modules.
(Credit: John Burek)We’re less optimistic for big breakthroughs at Computex in the desktop processor market. Things have been fairly quiet since the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus “Arrow Lake Refresh” landed, though we know Intel’s "Nova Lake" silicon is almost through its development process.
We could see AMD push out a new processor to better compete with the 270K Plus, perhaps something with AMD’s frame-rate-boosting 3D V-Cache technology. At the moment, however, nothing in the air suggests such a new chip is imminent, especially as it just launched the cache-boosted Ryzen 9 9950X3D2. —Michael Justin Allen Sexton, Senior Writer
5. Agentic AI and ‘Agent Computers’: AI’s Big Glow-Up Will Be Center Stage
Nvidia’s DGX Spark launch and the rise of on-device AI agents like OpenClaw have lit a fire under PC hardware makers, eager to capitalize on the biggest trend in AI. A shift is taking place, where personal computing is no longer just the device in front of you, but it’s also a dedicated AI assistant that runs in the background, taking care of tasks for you during the day and through the night.
AMD has particularly capitalized on this trend with a whole class of devices it calls "Agent Computers," compact desktops optimized for AI. Equipped with chips like the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, these systems have powerful NPUs and massive, unified memory architectures. They are purpose-built for running cloud-scale AI models on desktop hardware, keeping data private and maintaining high tokens-per-second processing. At Computex, we'll certainly see the first of these next-generation AI boxes, with the just-announced AMD Ryzen AI Halo topping the list. Could that mean a DGX Spark 2.0 is far behind? Anything's possible.
(Credit: AMD)On more of a software note, we're also seeing big names eagerly pushing out branded variations on the OpenClaw concept. From Nvidia's NemoClaw to Intel's SuperClaw and AMD's guides to "best known builds" (all featuring AMD hardware), it seems like every brand wants a piece of the agentic action. Expect more announcements of both AI-optimized systems and plug-and-play solutions that add guardrails, automate setup, and otherwise try to stamp over the OpenClaw idea with a brand name. —B.W.
6. Gaming Handhelds: Intel’s Arc G-Series Will Throw Hands at AMD Ryzen Z
After an inconsistent start with “Lunar Lake” Core 200V, Intel is keen on nailing the PC gaming handheld market this time. This market is highly competitive, with devices like the Nintendo Switch 2 and Valve Steam Deck facing off, and Intel has been surprisingly absent from the fun, save for a few systems via MSI’s Claw line. The Switch 2 houses Nvidia and Arm hardware, whereas the Steam Deck and other similar gaming handhelds use AMD components.
(Credit: Intel)Now, Intel wants a bigger piece of the pie with its Intel Arc G3 and G3 Extreme processors that it designed explicitly for use in handheld gaming devices. Expect to see at least a few products at Computex based on this new silicon; Intel has announced the new processors just before the show, and Acer has detailed one model, the Acer Predator Atlas 8. Could MSI Claws and Asus ROG Allys be far behind? —M.J.A.S.
7. Graphics Cards: Is It 'Super' Time Yet? Doubtful
The graphics card market has seen few new consumer releases of any consequence in some time, but that's not hurting sales. The big push into AI hardware has driven up the prices of many components; memory has been hit the hardest, but graphics cards are also in high demand for running AI workloads. Both factors are causing graphics card prices to fluctuate.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)You might expect AMD, Intel, and Nvidia to capitalize on all this GPU demand for faster AI hardware with a new wave of graphics cards. While each company is undoubtedly working on its next-generation GPUs, nothing indicates consumer models are due out soon. High demand and memory-chip scarcity pose significant challenges for any new cards hitting the market now.
The biggest question mark? Everyone’s waiting for Nvidia to launch a range of “Super”-variant GeForce RTX 50-series cards. The preceding RTX 40-series Super graphics cards were souped-up versions of existing RTX 40-series GPUs, and a line of RTX 50-series Supers makes sense. Intel could also choose to release a standalone graphics card based on its latest “Celestial” GPU architecture, already available in a form on Intel’s Panther Lake mobile processors. The rumor mill has churned up little evidence, though, that suggests either company (or AMD) has any near-term plans for a major graphics card launch. —M.J.A.S.
8. PC Storage: It'll Be All About the Enterprise
With an SSD NAND crunch paralleling the ongoing memory shortage, storage prices are trending upward, too, Computex should mostly serve up SSD launches geared to AI, data centers, and power users, but relatively few new consumer-level products.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Silicon Power has announced it will be debuting storage solutions, including its CreatePro storage system for content creators. Under its new Trusta enterprise and AI data center storage brand, ADATA has said it will showcase PCI Express 5.0 enterprise SSDs, available in capacities up to 15TB. We will also likely see the trend continue toward PCI Express 5.0 sticks with greater energy efficiency (the early models were space heaters), designed for use in laptops and general-use desktop PCs. —Tony Hoffman, Senior Writer
9. PC DIY Dreams: Will the RAM Shortage Crush Them? Don’t Count on It
Computex is a mecca for the classic desktop PC. The main show floor features, at its center, a days-long CPU overclocking competition. PC modders compete for eyeballs on the world’s biggest modding stage, and makers of cooling gear, power supplies, PC chassis, and other desktop accouterments descend on Taipei as a horde. This is their World Series. But, in 2026, to be sure, it’s been raining on the field for six months straight.
That’s because, as mentioned earlier, the cost of main system memory and, increasingly, flash and platter storage have been through the roof. The big AI cloud players have been putting huge pressure on supply and manufacturing bandwidth, with their demands for AI data-center silicon. Memory’s a huge part of that equation, and PC desktop enthusiasts and PC OEMs alike are feeling a big, big pinch. Buying DIMMs and SSDs hurts.
(Credit: John Burek)Does that mean Computex will be a fizzle for that crowd? Don’t count on it. It may cost more than ever to build a PC or buy some of the parts that enthusiasts take for granted. And as noted, we don’t expect any imminent, world-shaking desktop CPU or GPU launches. But the ecosystem around the desktop that flowers every year at Computex is pretty hard to dampen.
Why do we say that? We’re seeing barely a ripple in the number and identity of the “usual suspect” companies we meet with every year in the PC DIY world. There has been no mass exodus from Computex: They’ll all be onsite and showing new wares, with a couple of exceptions. Just a handful we know of are begging off Computex; maybe that's due to market pressures, or just a lack of new launches. As much as PC building and DIY tinkering are getting to be expensive hobbies, they’re not going anywhere—and, eventually, the memory crunch will ease up. Still expect new toys. —J.B.