The Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC) released its "2024 ICT Industry Outlook" today, highlighting the pervasive impact of Generative AI in the upcoming years. According to Chris Hung, General Director of MIC, Generative AI is set to define the landscape of the 2024 ICT and software industry, progressively extending its reach to various end-user devices. The anticipation is that AI-enabled PCs and smartphones will emerge as new forces driving consumer markets. The rapid development of Generative AI also fuels demand for a new wave of AI inference servers, intensifying competition in the AI chip market. Looking ahead, the trend in 2024 will shift towards "AI Agent," promising revolutionary changes in software system engineering, facilitating enterprise process upgrades. As we approach a world where "everyone becomes an AI engineer," the future holds the promise of a new era of AI service models.

AI Trend #1: Igniting Global PC Market Growth with AI PCs

MIC suggests that AI-equipped personal computers have become standard for the next generation of product development. Despite the lack of a precise definition for AI PCs, the imagination within the PC supply chain has already opened new battlegrounds for AI PCs. Major players recognize that the key to market growth lies in user-centric usage patterns. Therefore, besides hardware performance, the focus is shifting to software application tools that align with user scenarios for executing AI functions. In 2024, Taiwan's PC industry, with its design and productivity advantages, is expected to play a crucial role in finding usage scenarios and innovative product designs, enhancing the value of AI PC products to meet the rising market opportunities.

AI Trend #2: AI Smartphone Service Ecosystem Reconstruction and Dominance by the Giants

The AI layout capabilities of smartphone brand manufacturers will be a differentiating factor in 2024. The service ecosystem of AI smartphones will undergo reconstruction, moving towards a scenario where the bigger brands dominate. Major smartphone brands are developing large language models (LLMs) and integrating custom OS systems to introduce AI capabilities into smartphones. To meet the varied application and computational demands of AI smartphones, specifications for smartphone chips are expected to see significant upgrades. In 2024, Taiwan's industry is poised to benefit from the demand for advanced processes, AI smartphone chip design and testing, and increased orders for memory modules, providing substantial growth momentum.

AI Trend #3: Small and Medium-Sized Generative AI Models Drive AI Server Shipments as a Key Enterprise Procurement Product

MIC notes that the application and need for training raw data in various industry sectors vary significantly. Many industries involve the computation of sensitive data, making small and customized AI training models a trend. Looking ahead to 2024, AI inference servers, due to their lower prices and ease of enterprise deployment, are expected to become a key procurement product for enterprises. For Taiwan's industry, shipments of high-end AI training servers, along with orders for AI inference servers from cloud service providers, server brand manufacturers, and self-branded AI inference servers, are expected to increase, providing substantial growth opportunities for the supply chain.

AI Trend #4: Preparing for Generative AI Computing Power, Intense Competition in AI Chip Industry

The spotlight is on the development of generative AI computing chips, with services like OpenAI ChatGPT and Google Gemini gaining attention. This has prompted service providers to build AI computing data centers to enhance service capabilities, driving chip manufacturers to introduce higher-performance AI computing chips. Notably, service providers are developing self-designed chips to meet their AI computing needs, intensifying the competition in the AI chip market in 2024. According to MIC, the focus in 2024 will be on leading manufacturers such as NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel, as well as the development and adoption of self-designed chips by AI service providers.

AI Trend #5: Generative AI Transitioning to AI Agent, Driving Software System Engineering Innovation and Enterprise Process Upgrades

Various generative AI technologies have laid the foundation for AI Agents, evolving into intelligent systems with higher autonomy, self-decomposition and problem-solving abilities. According to MIC, AI Agents are beginning to integrate LLM, autonomous planning, memory and feedback capabilities, as well as tool selection and usage capabilities. This trend will significantly impact the principles of future software engineering design and planning, assisting existing engineering personnel in accelerating development speed and improving standards. In the long run, as AI Agents with capabilities become more widespread, allowing everyone to use No Code/Low Code to issue commands for system engineering work breakdown, execute complex tasks, and even improve internal enterprise processes and business models.

AI Trend #6: GPT Store Favors Nationwide Creation of AI Apps, Constructing a New Generation of AI Service Models

As AI Agent technology matures, the threshold for developing AI applications is expected to significantly decrease, heralding the era of everyone as an AI engineer. The anticipated launch of the "GPT Store" by OpenAI in 2024 is set to transform the ecosystem of AI development and application, encouraging individual developers or small studios to actively participate. However, whether the GPT Store can partially replace the role of IT service providers remains to be seen, particularly because enterprise operations are more complex than general personal applications. It is advised that professional IT service providers focus on assisting enterprises in meeting detailed customization requirements, continuously optimizing models and software, and maintaining a flexible architecture to meet expanding demands, which is the key competitive advantage.

AI Trend #7: Increased Importance of Trustworthy AI, Data Privacy and Legality Impact AI Development

As the era of ubiquitous AI approaches, the importance of trustworthy AI continues to rise, moving towards universalization. Looking to the future, the significance of ModelOps, encompassing the continuous maintenance and updates of models, along with real-time monitoring of model performance and risks, is growing. This effectively prevents negative effects of AI models in the absence of proper supervision. Moreover, active data protection and security measures specifically tailored for AI will become increasingly important, especially in ensuring data privacy and legality, proving to be crucial factors influencing AI development.

In summary, the 2024 ICT Industry Outlook presents a dynamic landscape, with Generative AI at the forefront of transformative changes, driving innovation across various sectors. The increasing ubiquity of AI is reshaping the way we interact with technology and laying the foundation for a future where AI becomes an integral part of our daily lives.

About Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC):

Established in 1987, Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC) is a division of III (Institute for Information Industry), a major government think tank, and one of the leading IT research institutes in Taiwan. MIC specializes in industry and market research. With over three decades of experience, MIC provides valuable insights and data-driven recommendations to assist businesses in making informed decisions.

To know more about this topic, please visit: AI Development in the Era of ChatGPT: Challenges and Key Considerations, Is Society Ready for the Next Wave of AI Revolution?, Global Server Market Forecast, 2023-2027, Major Countries' Responses to Generative AI Development: Japan, Sweden, Italy and China (pre-order), Development Trends of AI Chip Products and Strategies of Leading Brands (pre-order)