Nvidia N1X Chip to Ship 10M Units Over Two Years, Windows Support Needed for Upgrade Cycle: Analyst (NVDA)

As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang prepared to deliver a keynote on Sunday, May 31, 2026, TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo estimated that devices equipped with Nvidia’s N1/N1X chips will ship about 10 million units over the next two years, targeting a niche market of power users demanding on-device AI compute. Kuo warned that any upside to shipment forecasts hinges on Microsoft’s Windows operating system delivering applications and workflows that truly leverage on-device AI processing. He noted that today’s mainstream PC AI usage—running large language models in browsers or consuming cloud-based tokens via APIs—relies almost entirely on cloud compute, not local silicon. Current hot-selling devices such as the MacBook Neo and low-cost mini PCs like the Mac mini are driven by price, design, and ecosystem, not on-device AI. Even AI agents running on these machines primarily use cloud inference, Kuo said. While on-device features like speech-to-text exist, they remain insufficient to trigger a significant upgrade wave. The N1X chip offers a balanced mix of AI performance, memory, and portability for demanding users, but without deep OS integration, a broader replacement cycle remains elusive.