Following official and third-party announcements, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang will officially unveil the mystery of its first Arm-based PC processor N1X at the COMPUTEX 2026 keynote speech at the Taipei Pop Music Center later today (June 1). Prior to this, Microsoft and Huida had simultaneously released a preview of “A new era of PC” on the
Tianfeng International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo published an article on the X platform on the same day, proposing a supply chain survey and in-depth analysis of the market prospects of N1X. He pointed out that about 10 million devices equipped with N1X will be shipped in the next two years, but it is still a niche market, targeting heavy users who have demand for device-side AI computing power.
許多人期待、Nvidia 可能將要發布的 N1X / Windows PC 處理器，供應鏈調查與重點分析：
▌供應鏈調查顯示，配備 N1X 的裝置未來兩年出貨量約10Ｍ
➡ 仍屬利基市場，瞄準對裝置端 AI 算力有需求的重度使用者。
➡ 未來出貨能否上修，除售價因素，還是取決於 Windows 能否提供真正調度裝置端 AI…— 郭明錤｜Ming-Chi Kuo (@mingchikuo) May 31, 2026
N1X specifications: 20-core Arm processor + Blackwell architecture internal display
According to multiple media speculations, N1X uses TSMC’s 3nm process and is equipped with a 20-core Arm v9.2 architecture (10 performance cores + 10 efficiency cores), sharing 32 MB cache memory. The most eye-catching thing is the built-in display chip: the iGPU based on the Blackwell architecture has up to 48 streaming multiprocessors (SM) and 6,144 CUDA cores, and its performance may be close to the level of the independent graphics card GeForce RTX 5060 Ti. In terms of memory, it uses the LPDDR5X unified memory architecture. Huida aims to surpass the Apple M5 Pro and AMD Ryzen AI Max 400.
This chip also has a built-in NPU (Neural Network Processor), and the iGPU is also responsible for AI inference tasks and supports full Copilot+ acceleration functions. For heavy users who run large language models (LLM) locally, the N1X device provides an alternative to Mac between device-side AI computing power and large-capacity memory.
Ming-Chi Kuo: Mainstream PC AI applications are still in the cloud, and device computing power is almost irrelevant
Ming-Chi Kuo made a core observation in his analysis: the current mainstream AI applications on PCs (Windows and Mac) are essentially “using the browser to access the LLM website” and “consuming the cloud LLM computing power/token through the API.” The core is to use cloud AI computing power, not the device.
He further pointed out that the two hot events in the PC industry so far in 2026 have almost nothing to do with device-side AI computing power:
- MacBook Neo hot sale: Ming-Chi Kuo’s industry survey shows that MacBook Neo shipments in 2026 will be significantly increased by about 100%, from the original estimate of 5 million units to 10 million units. But the reason why consumers buy it is “low price + design + ecology” rather than device-side AI computing power.
- Small PC console craze: Although cheap small PC hosts such as Mac mini are still in a niche market, they have attracted great attention because they can run AI agents (such as OpenClaw) for a long time. However, the inference computing power of this type of agent almost comes from the cloud.
Ming-Chi Kuo concluded: “Regardless of sales volume (lizi) or topics (face), they have almost nothing to do with the device-side AI computing power.”
The key to the replacement wave: the operating system is the decisive point
What is the biggest difference between device-side AI and cloud-side AI? Ming-Chi Kuo believes that cross-application user data and workflow can be highly integrated while taking privacy into account, but this requires in-depth support from the operating system. At present, the AI process of PC operating systems is still mainly stuck in two stages: “adding AI functions to local applications” and “lightly integrating cross-application workflows”. Although there are already applications that make good use of device-side AI computing power, such as voice transcription, they are still not enough to drive significant demand for upgrades.
Ming-Chi Kuo made it clear: “If you want to drive a significant upgrade wave, in addition to price, operating system (Windows) support is still key.” In other words, no matter how strong the N1X’s hardware specifications are, if Windows cannot provide applications and workflows that can truly schedule AI computing power on the device, the shipment volume of this processor may be difficult to increase.
Supply chain benefits: Taiwanese PC stocks surge across the board
The market’s expectations for N1X have been reflected in the performance of Taiwanese stocks. On May 29, PC-related groups experienced a huge surge:
- Foundry: TSMC (2330) rose 2.61% to close at 2,355 yuan
- Packaging and testing factory: KYEC (2449) rose 2.66% to close at 328.5 yuan
- assembly plant: Hon Hai (2317) rose 9.89%, Quanta (2382) rose 9.89%, Inventec (2356) rose 9.86%, Wistron (3231) rose 9.69%, Wivan (6669) rose 10.00%, Compal (2324) rose 9.55%
- PC brand: Acer (2353) rose 10.00%, Asus (2357) rose 9.97%, MSI (2377) rose 6.07%
As Taiwan’s PC supply chain is highly mature, the launch of new N1X devices is expected to drive overall supply chain operations. In addition to the main packaging and testing plants of Huida and MediaTek, related PC brands and OEM/ODM manufacturers have also become the focus of market attention.
Summary: N1X is good hardware, but the answer lies in Windows
The advent of the Huida N1X processor marks the official entry of the Arm architecture into the high-performance Windows PC market, forming direct competition with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite series. For heavy AI users, the N1X device can achieve a better balance between AI computing power, memory, appearance and portability, making it a powerful alternative to Mac.
However, Ming-Chi Kuo’s analysis also points out a cruel reality: device-side AI is still not enough to become the core driving force for consumers to change their phones. The shipment forecast of 10 million units seems bright, but based on the global PC market’s annual shipments of more than 250 million units, it only accounts for about 4%. Whether N1X can move from niche to mainstream ultimately depends on the depth of Microsoft’s AI integration on the Windows side.
Source: KOCPC Chinese