Attendees convey their laptops to put in the OpenClaw AI agent throughout a Baidu occasion in Beijing, China, on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
BEIJING — So many individuals in China are dashing to strive the OpenClaw synthetic intelligence software that they are driving up costs for secondhand Mac computer systems.
That is in keeping with Jeremy Ji, chief technique officer and basic supervisor of worldwide enterprise at ATRenew, a used client electronics purchaser and reseller that works with Apple and retailer JD.com in mainland China.
OpenClaw is an AI agent, a software that may autonomously conduct private duties similar to sending emails and purchasing on-line. Utilization in China is at present outstripping the U.S., in keeping with American cybersecurity agency SecurityScorecard.
Nevertheless, the free-to-download software program additionally poses safety dangers, prompting many customers to run OpenClaw on a cloud computing server or laptop computer separate from their major gadget. If allowed direct entry to a private pc, the AI agent may autonomously alter personal information similar to banking data, or allow hackers to entry it extra simply.
As individuals in China soar on the OpenClaw development, they’re turning to preowned computer systems, Ji stated in a cellphone interview.
He likened the demand surge to the pandemic, when many individuals purchased extra private computing gadgets since they have been working and spending extra time at house.
Consequently, from March to Could this 12 months, Ji stated that ATRenew is retaining its costs for Apple merchandise much like these seen in the course of the peak fall season round new iPhone releases. That contrasts with a typical worth drop in the course of the spring.
Ji stated costs for a brand new MacBook are usually 15% increased than the used ones offered by way of ATRenew.
Apple’s self-developed chips, the newest of which is known as the M5, are typically extra power-efficient than chips for computer systems working Home windows programs. For early OpenClaw adopters, the favored {hardware} of alternative has been Apple’s Mac Mini.
ATRenew’s Ji stated the corporate is seeing individuals trade-in their MacBooks with older M1 and M2 chips for computer systems with the M4 or M5 chip. “We do see the rising demand for laptops, PCs as an entire, however the Mac gadgets profit from that development [to try OpenClaw] above all.”
Shopper curiosity in additional highly effective secondhand MacBooks is “nonetheless going very sturdy,” Ji stated, noting that ATRenew has needed to improve its worth for purchasing again gadgets with a purpose to improve the provision of secondhand Macs obtainable for buy. He predicted the development may proceed “all through the entire 12 months.”
Subscribe now
An Austrian developer, Peter Steinberger, launched OpenClaw in November. However the newest wave of curiosity in China solely picked up early this month as Tencent and different Chinese language tech corporations used OpenClaw as a technique to entice extra customers.
ATRenew’s Ji declined to share the precise quantity of MacBooks dealt with since late February, however famous the typical variety of gadgets the corporate processed final 12 months was round 100,000 a day. He expects the share of MacBook and different laptop computer or private computing gadgets may develop to twenty% of the enterprise, up from 15% proper now.
Jensen Huang, CEO of U.S. chip large Nvidia, informed CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday that OpenClaw is “undoubtedly the following ChatGPT.”
“It’s now the most important, hottest, essentially the most profitable open-sourced challenge within the historical past of humanity,” Huang stated.
General demand for AI computing energy has additionally pushed up costs for reminiscence chips, a key part of smartphones and laptops.
The chip worth surge has particularly inspired extra shoppers in China to purchase used Apple smartphones, quite than flagship Android-based gadgets, Ji stated.