PC market demand is worse than expected, sharp drop in CPU and memory sales

Previously, major manufacturers have lowered PC shipments. Earlier this month, IDC’s latest worldwide quarterly personal computing device tracking report showed that the PC market will usher in turbulent times, global shipments of traditional PCs are expected to drop by 12.8% to 305.3 million units in 2022, while shipments of tablet PCs are expected to drop by 6.8% to 156.8 million units. IDC said a weak global economy, inflation, and a surge in purchases over the past two years were the main reasons for the decline in shipments.

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According to Barrons, conditions in the PC market may be even worse than expected, with third-quarter sales figures from Intel and AMD showing a much faster-than-expected decline in CPU and memory sales for client PCs, adding to a more pessimistic outlook. The situation had worsened in less than a month after IDC’s figures were based on sales forecasts from PC makers and companies like AMD and Intel.

CPU sales are an important indicator of the health of the PC market, while memory sales are an indicator of PC market expectations. According to DigiTimes, Korea’s exports of key memory chips plummet as demand chills. Shipments of memory chips, which account for half of South Korea’s memory chip exports, fell 24.7 percent last month after falling 7 percent in July, according to South Korea’s trade ministry.

Samsung and SK Hynix account for two-thirds of the global memory market share, and if the two giants have sales problems, it is a clear sign that market demand is declining. That’s bad news for South Korea, as technology exports, which account for a third of its export trade, fell 4.6% in August, largely dragged down by slumping shipments of smartphones, monitors, and PCs.