Electronics

According to import and export data, global personal computer (PC) shipments continued to decline significantly in the first quarter, with a year-on-year decrease of 29% to 56.9 million units.

According to the latest report from research firm IDC, the total shipment volume of global PC manufacturers in the first quarter was even much lower than the 59.2 million units in the same period of 2019. This reflects that the surge in demand driven by remote work during the epidemic has subsided, and PC manufacturers struggling to cope with inventory surplus are facing a difficult start to the beginning of this year.

Among the major manufacturers in the PC market, Apple's first-quarter PC shipments decreased by about 40%, Lenovo and Dell's first-quarter shipments decreased by more than 30%, HP's (HP) fell by 24.2%, and Asus, ranked fifth in market share, saw a decrease of 30.3% in shipments. Huacheng's import and export data observation report.

The slowdown in global consumer spending has led to a double-digit decline in smartphone shipments, and has also put global memory chip manufacturers in a state of oversupply. Samsung Electronics announced last week that it will reduce storage production and announced that its profit for the previous quarter was the lowest since the 2009 financial crisis.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, IDC Research Director Ublani said, "Although inventory has been digested in the past few months, it is still far above the healthy range of four to six weeks. Even if significant discounts have been offered, PC manufacturers expect such inventory levels to remain in place until the middle of this year and possibly continue into the third quarter

After a significant decline in personal computer shipments in 2022, personal computer manufacturers will face a difficult year. Industry estimates suggest that a comprehensive recovery will take until 2024, as reported by Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation.

Although consecutive quarters of decline indicate a bleak outlook for the personal computer market, IDC predicts that there will be "sporadic opportunities" throughout the year, and the market may recover in 2024. Looking ahead to 2024, IDC researchers predict that the personal computer market may rebound, mainly driven by two major factors: hardware aging driving replacement behavior and global economic improvement.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, chip manufacturer AMD CEO Su Zifeng recently predicts that the personal computer market is about to bottom out. Su Zifeng said, "We will see a certain amount of growth in the second quarter, and then there will be seasonal growth in the second half of the year