The annual Consumer Technology Show CES 2025 officially kicks off on January 7 and is guaranteed to bring a variety of interesting, eye-catching and downright weird new products to the famous Las Vegas Strip.
Every CES comes with its share of big-name announcements, whether they’re chipmakers, automakers or small startups. And this year will be no different. Of course, the biggest stories will undoubtedly be, as they have been for two years, about artificial intelligence.
However, the series is not limited to AI. Newer, better TVs, unique appliances, and laptops as far as the eye can see – plus a fair share of vaporware – are sure to flood the floors of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) throughout this tech extravaganza of a week. Here’s what to expect from this year’s event.
Chances are you have heard the terms AI agents or agentic AI over the last few months. Otherwise, think of it as AI software that can multitask for you. Consider extracting information from your email and dropping it into a spreadsheet without having to lift a finger.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang before a baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the Arizona Diamondbacks in San Francisco, Tuesday, September 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) ·ASSOCIATED PRESS
Agents have taken over the AI conversation in Silicon Valley and Wall Street, which means they’ll likely be everywhere at CES 2025. In fact, Agents already had some impact at CES 2025. last year.
The Rabbit R1 AI gadgetwent viral at CES 2024, is designed to take actions on your behalf, including navigating websites and user interfaces. And there’s no doubt we’ll see plenty of companies touting their own similar capabilities at this year’s show.
If past CES is any indication, we’ll likely hear about AI agents for everything from TVs to washing machines. Technology loves a good trend, and with no end in sight for the AI hype, this one seems too good to pass up.
It wouldn’t be CES without some good bullet points. AMD (AMD), Intel (INTC), NVIDIA (NVDA), and Qualcomm (QCOM) will all be present and each is expected to provide information on their own chip plans for the coming year.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will host the company keynote speech on January 6during which the company is expected to launch its latest generation of consumer graphics cards. AMD is also set to host its own conference at the event, featuring its own graphics chips.
Lisa Su, president and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), delivers the opening speech at Computex 2024, Taiwan’s premier technology expo, in Taipei, June 3, 2024. (I-HWA CHENG/AFP via Getty Images ) ·I-HWA CHENG via Getty Images
All chipmakers in the PC industry rely heavily on PC gaming AI to attract consumers and improve overall sales. And you can expect more of that at CES, too. But it remains an open question whether AI PCs, computers designed to natively run AI applications, will be enough to get consumers to pull out their credit cards.
We’ll learn more about the companies’ strategies and what makes their respective AI PCs better than their competitors in just a few days.
It’s hard to imagine CES without some crazy new automotive technology, but years ago, seeing a car enter the LVCC would have been unheard of. There is now an entire wing dedicated to all things automotive and beyond.
Car manufacturers BMW and Toyota (TM) to Honda (CMH) are ready to show off their latest technologies, and companies across the tech spectrum are almost certain to launch new ways to interact with our four-wheeled fortresses. Much of this will include how technology will enable advanced driver assistance features in the coming years. And you can bet that at least one company is going to mention fully autonomous cars, although it will still be years before that becomes a reality, if ever.
Cars aren’t the only modes of transportation that will appear at CES. Everything from tractors and double-decker dump trucks to private boats and flying taxis have graced the halls of the LVCC, and if I were a betting man, I’d say we’ll see more of them at CES 2025, too.
Tech giants are bracing for tariffs promised by President-elect Donald Trump, and exactly how these will impact everything from consumer electronics to enterprise will certainly be a priority. Trump said he would impose tariffs on products from China; expressed disgust with the CHIPS Actwhich aims to relocate chip manufacturing; and said the additional costs for businesses would force them to locate operations in the United States.
Still, there is no guarantee that Trump will implement the tariffs as he says or when he enacts them. Either way, the fact that the risk exists is enough to worry Silicon Valley and Wall Street investors.
But it’s not just about customs duties. Tech companies across the spectrum are bracing for Trump’s second appearance in the Oval Office, with the leaders of several of the “Magnificent Seven,” including Meta (META) Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos is reaching out to the president-elect in an attempt to repair their frayed relationship.
All of this will certainly make for some interesting dynamics at CES, and an even more interesting year for technology as a whole.
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Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
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