The use of AI is becoming widespread, and 2023 was a breakout year. A McKinsey study revealed that respondents expect AI to transform their industries, and 22 percent said they regularly use it in their work. 40 percent of those reporting AI adoption at their organizations say their companies expect to invest more in AI.

This growth, while exciting, brings new challenges. Based on this increased use of AI, there are three trends we see for 2024 that will change the computing landscape.

1) AI inference and large-scale deployment take center stage

In 2024, the focus of companies on AI will shift from the initial training of neural networks to their productive, practical use, also known as AI inference. As AI inference can require 10 times more computing power than training, the ability to deploy AI at scale will become increasingly important. Achieving this required scale will be limited by performance, cost and availability, so organizations will look for alternatives to graphics processing units (GPUs) as they enter this next phase, prioritizing technologies that enable more efficient and cost-effective execution of AI inference models.

2) Sustainability and energy efficiency become even more important in the context of AI

Our prediction for 2023 around sustainability coming front and center came true, and the power supply situation is at times even more dramatic than feared. Today, data centers often struggle to cover their energy requirements. Through 2023, energy costs have skyrocketed, and the issue of sustainability has become increasingly important in both public and private clouds. Companies invested in products and initiatives to reduce energy and water consumption and looked for ways to accommodate more computing power in existing locations. Increased AI usage will lead to even more demand for computing power in 2024, while sustainability and efficiency could become challenges for expansion. Data center operators will need to prioritize efficiency in the new year to avoid jeopardizing growth.

3) Computing and data processing is becoming even more distributed and complex

With the rise of AI, once “simple” devices are becoming increasingly intelligent, leading to more computing devices than ever before. To process data from these devices in real-time, high-performance computing is being deployed all over the place - in public and private clouds but now also at the edge, leading to greater demand for computing in super-local areas compared to centralized regions. The complexity of these environments requires solutions that the industry didn't have five years ago, and there will be more specialized vendors than ever trying to address the situation. But only a few companies with the right technology and skills to shape the next era of computing will be able to deliver the scale, performance and energy efficiency required. These companies will set themselves apart from the competition in 2024.