NPUs: Fueling the future of AI in the Digital Workplace
Soon, your work laptop will not just have a powerful CPU and GPU; it will also come with an NPU. A Neural Processing Unit (NPU) is an embedded “AI brain” that can transform the way you work. NPUs are specialized processors designed to accelerate machine learning and AI tasks on your device.
Devices have been fitted with NPUs since 2024, and Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC is a well-known example. These specialized processors are designed to accelerate AI tasks, enhance security, and ensure data sovereignty, making them a must-have for your next work laptop.
The ABCs of NPUs
An NPU is a dedicated AI co-processor. It is different from a CPU (general-purpose processor) or GPU (graphics processor) in that it is built specifically for neural network operations and parallel data processing.
This means an NPU can perform tasks like image recognition, speech transcription, or statistical predictions far more efficiently than a CPU or GPU. For example, instead of your main processor churning through a complex image analysis and drawing a lot of power, the NPU can handle it faster and with minimal battery drain. In practical terms, an NPU in a laptop allows for features like real-time language translation, intelligent voice assistants, advanced photo editing, and enhanced security checks to run smoothly right on the device and with a lower power consumption.
NPUs in modern laptops
Originally seen in smartphones, NPUs are now being built into laptops across different platforms. Apple’s M1 and M2 MacBooks come with the Apple Neural Engine (their NPU) integrated into the chip, enabling on-device AI for apps like Photos and Siri. Windows laptop makers are following suit: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon-based PCs have NPUs, and even traditional PC chip giants Intel and AMD are adding AI accelerators into their latest processors.
Intel’s newest processors include a built-in NPU and AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series has an AI engine on board. In short, the hardware ecosystem is embracing NPUs – they might be a separate module on the motherboard or part of the main system-on-chip, but either way, the next generation of laptops is being built with AI capabilities at the core.
How Operating Systems use NPU
The major operating systems have evolved to support these AI chips. Here’s how:
Windows 11
Microsoft has introduced features that tap into NPUs for better performance. A prime example is the Windows Studio Effects for video calls. Features like background blur, eye contact correction (so you appear to look at the camera), voice noise suppression, and live captioning during meetings are all powered by AI. On an NPU-equipped laptop, these can run locally in real time, making video meetings clearer and more engaging without overloading your CPU. Windows also uses NPUs to accelerate Windows Hello (facial recognition login) and is integrating NPUs into its new AI assistant features like Windows Copilot to keep them fast and responsive.
macOS (Apple)
Since Apple’s hardware has NPUs built in, macOS is designed to use them for a variety of tasks. Dictation and Siri requests on a Mac, for instance, can be processed on the device using the Neural Engine, so when you use voice commands or convert speech to text, it is fast and private. The Photos app uses AI to identify faces and objects in your pictures for easy searching, which the NPU manages quietly in the background. Developers of Mac apps also use Apple’s Core ML framework to offload machine learning tasks to the Neural Engine, boosting performance for things like image editing filters or smart document scanning in third-party apps.
Linux
While not common on mainstream user laptops, many enterprise systems run on Linux. The good news is Linux is catching up with support for NPUs as they appear in PC hardware. Open-source drivers and frameworks like TensorFlow Lite or OpenVINO allow Linux to use the AI accelerators in new Intel and AMD chips. This means if your organization has developers or machines running Linux, they too can benefit from faster AI computations, whether it is for edge devices that do on-site data processing or researchers running models locally.
Smarter applications with on-device AI
With NPUs in place, organizational applications and its supporting software can do some rather impressive new things, and do familiar things even better.
Where are you on your journey towards a digital workplace and are you optimizing NPUs yet? Let’s connect to discuss the best way ahead for your organization.
Transform your work laptop with an NPU, the AI brain that enhances security, boosts productivity, and ensures data sovereignty – all without relying on the cloud.
Here are some ways in which NPUs are transforming the workplace:
- Collaboration and communication: Video conferencing tools like Teams, Zoom, and WebEx leverage NPUs for real-time enhancements. Your laptop’s NPU can filter out any background noise so that your voice comes through clearly. It can blur or replace your background for privacy and even provide live subtitling or translations if you are speaking with global colleagues. These features make meetings more productive and inclusive, especially in large organizations where teams are spread across various locations. Now, with an NPU they take less time and lower power consumption.
- Security and convenience: NPUs enable fast, secure user authentication and threat detection. Logging in with facial recognition or even voice recognition becomes quicker and more accurate. Security software can use on-device AI to detect unusual activity like potential malware behavior in real time, adding an extra layer of defence that runs continuously without slowing down your work. All this boosts enterprise security in a transparent manner.
- Productivity tools: Everyday office applications are getting AI boosts. Consider your email and documents: an NPU can help an AI model summarize a long report or suggest replies to an email. Microsoft 365’s emerging AI features, for example, will be able to draft content or analyze data locally. You might get intelligent spam filtering, email prioritization, or calendar scheduling suggestions that adapt to your habits – all powered by local AI processing. The result? You spend less time on routine tasks, freeing up your schedule for more important tasks.
- Creative and analytical work: For power users like designers, analysts, or content creators, NPUs present significant performance gains. Photo and video editing software can run complex filters, like noise reduction or object removal, much faster using the NPU. A data analyst could run a machine learning model on a dataset in seconds instead of minutes. And new AI-driven tools, like generating images from text descriptions or forecasting trends from spreadsheets, become feasible to run on a standard laptop. This helps teams innovate and iterate faster because they are not waiting for cloud servers to process tasks.
Reaping the benefits of NPUs
All these improvements point to several benefits for organizations:
- Boosted productivity: Employees can accomplish tasks faster and get assistance from AI features seamlessly. Think of an automatic meeting transcription that is ready the moment a call ends, or an instant translation of a document. Time saved is productivity gained.
- Enhanced user experience: Work devices feel more responsive and helpful. Instead of grinding to a halt during heavy tasks (since the NPU manages them), the laptop remains snappy. This reduces frustration and lets people multitask more effectively.
- Data privacy, sovereignty and offline capabilities: Since NPUs allow processing on the device, sensitive data does not have to be sent to the cloud for AI processing. A legal team could use an AI tool to scan contracts for key points internally, keeping client data inhouse. Plus, features like voice recognition or AI assistance still work even with poor internet connectivity, which is great for employees on the move.
- Futureproofing and innovation: Adopting NPU-enabled laptops prepares the company for the next wave of software. As AI features become standard in every application, having the right hardware means you can leverage them from day one. It also opens opportunities for custom solutions: an IT department could deploy in-house AI apps like a smart troubleshooting assistant for employees knowing everyone’s laptop can run it well.
Next steps
Neural Processing Units are set to become as common and as indispensable as GPUs in our everyday devices. For businesses, this means the tools we use daily will get a lot smarter. Laptops with NPUs will not only enhance current workflows with speed and intelligence but also unlock new ways of working whilst maintaining data privacy – from advanced real-time collaboration to on-the-fly data insights.
In a typical large organization, equipping your workforce with these AI-powered devices can lead to efficiency gains, more empowered employees, and innovative practices that give you an edge.
Embracing NPUs in laptops is embracing the future of the digital workplace, where AI is built into the fabric of how we operate, directly at our fingertips.
Posted on: August 11/08/2025
Simon Hardy
Principal Consultant, Digital WorkplaceFuture Makers Research Community
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