Acer issues warning of notebook oversupply
In the past two years or so, due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the demand for PCs by both enterprises and individuals has experienced a substantial increase. On the other hand, due to supply problems, which led to shortages and price increases, many manufacturers encountered troubles when purchasing parts. It is a little surprising that after entering 2022, the demand trend for PCs has changed, a considerable proportion of the devices currently sold in the market are in-stock products. Uncertainty about inflation, geopolitics, and economic growth has slowed down PC demand significantly.
According to DigiTimes, the PC industry is not optimistic about the client PC sales prospects in the consumer sector in the next few months. Considering the overall rise in the prices of energy, food, and other basic living goods, global inflation is likely to hit a record high, and people are likely to change their spending habits and reduce the proportion of money they spend on computer electronics.
Over the past few weeks, industry giants such as Asus, Acer, and Hewlett-Packard have all warned that the consumer market is showing signs of weakness and that demand has fallen, especially in low-end and mid-range products. According to IDC, weak demand in the consumer sector will reduce PC shipments in 2022 by 8.2% from the previous year. Shipments of desktops and laptops are at 348.8 million units in 2021, which means they will drop to 321.2 million units this year.
Since the surge in PC demand in the second quarter of 2020, PC makers have been working overtime to source components and build inventories to meet demand. Some PC makers even buy a series of chips directly from chip makers for storage, lest supply chain disruptions affect subsequent production. As demand fell, so did prices, and large inventories weighed heavily on businesses. At present, some components and finished products are rapidly depreciating in value, causing companies to face losses. Recently, the chairman of Acer said that the supply of notebook computers has exceeded the demand.
Of course, not all manufacturers have concerns in this regard, such as Apple, which still has relatively strong demand and is not affected by weak market demand.
