Attendees deliver their laptops to put in the OpenClaw AI agent throughout a Baidu occasion in Beijing, China, on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.
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BEIJING — So many individuals in China are speeding to attempt the OpenClaw synthetic intelligence software that they are driving up costs for secondhand Mac computer systems.
That is in accordance 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 akin to sending emails and procuring on-line. Utilization in China is at present outstripping the U.S., in accordance 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 main gadget. If allowed direct entry to a private pc, the AI agent may autonomously alter non-public information akin to banking info, or allow hackers to entry it extra simply.
As individuals in China leap on the OpenClaw pattern, 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 residence.
Because of this, from March to Could this yr, Ji stated that ATRenew is preserving its costs for Apple merchandise just like these seen throughout the peak fall season round new iPhone releases. That contrasts with a typical worth drop throughout the spring.
Ji stated costs for a brand new MacBook are sometimes 15% greater than the used ones bought by ATRenew.
Apple’s self-developed chips, the most recent of which known as the M5, are usually extra power-efficient than chips for computer systems operating 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 a complete, however the Mac gadgets profit from that pattern [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 getting again gadgets as a way to improve the provision of secondhand Macs out there for buy. He predicted the pattern may proceed “all through the entire yr.”
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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 firms used OpenClaw as a approach to appeal to 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 yr 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 big Nvidia, informed CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday that OpenClaw is “undoubtedly the subsequent ChatGPT.”
“It’s now the most important, hottest, probably the most profitable open-sourced mission within the historical past of humanity,” Huang stated.
General demand for AI computing energy has additionally pushed up costs for reminiscence chips, a key element of smartphones and laptops.
The chip worth surge has particularly inspired extra customers in China to purchase used Apple smartphones, somewhat than flagship Android-based gadgets, Ji stated.
