From risky decisions to the ambition of leading AI device era

For ASUS, the journey to build its AI laptop position in Vietnam has been a series of calculated bets, requiring patience, resources, and the ability to “accept risk” at the right moment. Eric Lee, Director of ASUS Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos), describes this journey in the spirit of the company’s slogan “In search of incredible”.

“Many years ago, ASUS was already a pioneer in bringing leading technologies to Vietnam - from popularizing OLED displays, bringing SSDs into mainstream laptops, to promoting AMD laptops and pre-installing licensed Windows. We believe Vietnamese users deserve access to the very best. And with AI, this is an ‘incredible’ step forward that we cannot overlook,” he said.

Pioneering AI laptops in Vietnam before anyone even understood what an AI laptop was

In 2024, when the concept of an “AI laptop” was still vague for most users, ASUS decided to introduce the Vivobook S15 - the first Copilot+ PC in Vietnam based on the Snapdragon X Elite platform. This decision was considered “risky”, as it touched three major barriers in the market.

The first barrier was user psychology. For many years, users had been accustomed to upgrading laptops in familiar ways: a stronger CPU, more RAM, a better display. Meanwhile, NPUs and on-device AI processing were entirely unfamiliar concepts. Introducing a new concept when market awareness had not yet clearly formed required persistence and a willingness to face cautious reactions.

The second barrier was technology. Snapdragon X chips are built on the ARM platform, which was entirely new and not yet fully compatible with some applications and devices. Not every user would be willing to accept this trade-off.

The third barrier was that the market had just come out of the “super-upgrade” cycle during the Covid-19 period, when users rushed to buy laptops for remote work and learning. With SSDs already integrated, most devices from that period were still smooth enough to handle common office and study tasks. “Why should I upgrade when my old device still works well?” was the prevailing mindset among consumers.

Despite these barriers, ASUS remained committed to its strategy to begin pioneering the AI laptop era in Vietnam.

Regarding the first barrier, Eric Lee believes the difference of AI laptops is not about speed. “In the past, upgrading a computer simply made familiar things faster,” he explained. “But AI laptops are different. They are not just faster, they are smarter.”

According to Lee, when a computer can summarize documents automatically, generate images for presentations, optimize lighting and clarity for online meetings, or process creative tasks directly on the device, users gain an entirely different experience - something that a few extra GHz or additional GB of memory may not necessarily deliver.

Regarding the technology barrier, the ASUS executive was straightforward and consistent. “We clearly understand the limitations of the new generation chipsets. But if you only sell what people are already familiar with, the market will never change. When you can see the future more clearly than the present, you must be willing to make trade-offs”.

He emphasized that overall, the advantages of the new platform - strong AI performance, lower heat generation, superior battery life, and better security - far outweigh the early limitations of the application ecosystem. More importantly, ASUS is not relying on a single choice. Alongside Qualcomm Snapdragon X, the company continues to maintain and upgrade its full lineup using Intel Core Ultra and AMD Ryzen AI processors, ensuring users have multiple options depending on their needs.

By combining two factors - the tangible benefits of AI in daily work and the rise of next-generation AI hardware platforms - ASUS believes the market has reached a “golden moment” to enter the next upgrade cycle, even for laptops that still function well from the Covid-19 era.

From the company’s perspective, this is no longer a matter of chasing a technology trend, but a decisive strategic move. Eric Lee affirmed that ASUS is fully committed to investing in AI laptops because “what AI brings goes far beyond the traditional concept of upgrades, and that is the value users will see most clearly in the years ahead.”

Building physical stores in the era of booming online shopping

If bringing AI laptops to Vietnam was a risky technological decision, then ASUS opening two ASUS Exclusive Stores and expanding the ASUS AI Innovation Hub experience network in 2025 was a risky business decision.

At a time when e-commerce is rapidly growing, the economy is fluctuating, and consumer behavior is shifting quickly, opening experience stores almost goes against the trend. Even more unusual is that sales targets are not the primary focus - an idea that some might consider “crazy” when many companies are trying to cut costs and optimize operations.

But ASUS sees the issue differently: AI laptops are a product category whose value cannot be conveyed through banner ads or promotional videos. To understand differences in speed, AI processing capability, lightweight design, battery life, or thermal performance, users need to hold the device, test tasks, and compare directly.

That is why ASUS Exclusive Store was created. ASUS built in-depth experience spaces where users can interact with the company’s full ecosystem of products, from entry-level to premium, from x86 platforms (Intel/AMD) to ARM (Snapdragon).

The goal is not to sell products at all costs, but to help users understand why the new generation of AI laptops matters for the future of personal computing. In fact, ASUS fully supports users experiencing products at ASUS Exclusive Store and then purchasing them through retail systems such as Phong Vũ, An Phát, Thế Giới Di Động, and CellphoneS - where the company also installs AI laptop experience counters called ASUS AI Innovation Hub.

“If ASUS Exclusive Store (AES) existed only to sell products, it would not be a smart strategy. But AES is not a retail store. It is an investment in building awareness, so that when users think of AI laptops, they think of ASUS, and then want to come to AES to experience them”, Lee explained.

However, this investment goes beyond simply creating experiences. Building dedicated stores is also a step to strengthen a sustainable brand image in Vietnam - a market where ASUS currently holds the number-one position. At present, ASUS is also the only PC brand with its own dedicated experience store system, sending a clear message about its position: not only leading in products, but also setting the benchmark for brand standards.

From a business perspective, ASUS Exclusive Store and ASUS AI Innovation Hub show that ASUS is not just selling products; it is building the market. And when the AI PC market explodes - something expected to accelerate strongly from 2026 - the brand that has already created the habit of experiencing products first will be the brand users mention first.

The ASUS Exclusive Store model also helps reposition ASUS’s premium image in the eyes of consumers. “Our data shows that the share of premium products sold at ASUS Exclusive Stores is significantly higher than at regular stores,” he said. “This reflects the purpose of the model: customers who are willing to spend more often want to experience the product directly before making a decision.”

After the pivotal year of 2025, AI laptops are entering the growth trajectory of 2026

2025 ended with many signals showing that ASUS’s difficult decisions had begun to deliver clear results.

From a market that was initially cautious about AI laptops, ASUS has built a solid growth foundation. According to the most recent market data, the brand now holds 41 per cent of the Copilot+ PC market share, becoming the leading player in the AI PC segment in Vietnam.

This acceleration did not come from a single product line, but from an entire portfolio spanning Qualcomm Snapdragon, Intel Core Ultra, and AMD Ryzen AI platforms. Internal ASUS data shows that AI laptop models once accounted for only about 4 per cent of weekly sales at the beginning of the year, but by November had increased to 6 per cent - exceeding initial forecasts and indicating that Vietnamese users are shifting faster than expected.

With Gartner forecasting that AI PCs will account for more than 55 per cent of the global market by 2026, ASUS’s 2025 results suggest the company has not only moved one step ahead but has also laid the first bricks for a new growth cycle.

“When users clearly see the benefits of AI laptops through models like ASUS Exclusive Store, combined with a diversified product portfolio and naturally more accessible pricing over time, we believe we are in a very strong position to grow significantly in 2026”, Lee concluded.