AI PC Ambitions Face an Unforgiving Reality of Memory Constraints and Budget Pressure For the PC industry, 2025 was the year that the end of Windows 10 support would drive a massive PC refresh cycle. As part of this refresh, AI PCs, devices with neural processing units (NPUs) designed to execute AI and machine learning […]
TBR Insights Live session: TBR’s ecosystem intelligence experts discuss how AI-driven sales and marketing will reshape ecosystems, how AI alliances will impact operational technology and what will challenge the scaling of sovereign AI.
New and expanding partnerships are increasingly targeting the convergence of IT and OT, as system integrators (SIs) align with OEMs, manufacturing ISVs and silicon providers. This momentum is driven by the strong growth potential in high-tech manufacturing, where solutions that improve accuracy, efficiency and safety can be deployed on-site without reliance on rack-scale compute systems in neoclouds or Tier 1 clouds. As a result, while AI has long operated at the edge, these partnerships will accelerate both the sophistication of AI-driven use cases and the pace of solution framework development.
2026 will be a transitional year defined by technology ecosystem expansions — multiparty alliances spanning IT, OT, devices, edge and silicon; industrial/physical AI acceleration, especially at the edge and in manufacturing; and strategic bottlenecks as skill shortages and infrastructure gaps slow sovereign AI adoption. TBR expects significant changes in how technology vendors collaborate and compete, which lays the groundwork for broader, more integrated AI ecosystems. This is an optimistic prediction. Multiparty alliances require exceptional leadership, shared understanding of commercial models and transparency among partners, and AI aids only the last of these. The human component remains the most significant roadblock. IT-OT convergence and a surge in connected everything have been a TBR (and broader market) prediction for years, and while “signs point to yes,” as the Magic 8 Ball says, 2026 could be another year of disappointing progress, as hype around physical AI could far outpace reality.
Learn TBR’s forecast for the AI PC and AI PC SoC markets, our performance outlook for the AI server and AI server GPGPU markets, the latest industry trends and ecosystem partnerships, and key market dynamics contributing to and inhibiting growth
Learn how to place strategic ecosystem bets on alliance partners that are well-positioned for the next growth wave, how competitors are gaining ground with common alliance partners through sales programs, go-to-market motions and training, and how to create unique value with alliance partners that resonates with end customers.
In 2025 IT services companies and consultancies will refine their alliances, winnowing lists of 100-plus technology partners to the handful that drive more than 90% of their business, articulate a clear joint value proposition, and align at both the leadership and sales force levels. A technology- and partner-agnostic approach was always a bit of a fiction and in the coming years will become a relic of the past. To make all that happen, IT services companies, cloud and on-premises infrastructure vendors, and consultancies will invest in ecosystem intelligence and elevate alliance management within their organizations.
after two years of GenAI disruption, a clear trend is emerging across the ecosystem: strategic partnering is becoming essential. Companies such as McKinsey & Co, Wipro, Dell Technologies, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NVIDIA are adopting this approach, recognizing that no single organization can deliver comprehensive GenAI-enabled solutions alone. Instead, success increasingly depends on leveraging the technology and expertise of ecosystem partners.
Underneath the enthusiasm for hybrid AI, Lenovo’s mission remains unchanged: It is driving transformation to become a technology leader in global devices, infrastructure solutions and services worldwide. Lenovo positions itself as having an end-to-end technology portfolio, a user-centered approach and an immense emphasis on open innovation. The company offers its customers choices thanks to its partnerships across semiconductor, AI platforms and ISVs; and it leverages its Solutions and Services Group to accelerate solution development between its own portfolio and partner ecosystem.
Join TBR’s IT Infrastructure research leads Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, for a live discussion and Q&A on how IT infrastructure consumption services have evolved in 2024 and what TBR expects to see from the services in 2025.