-20% in three months. And Intel starts the layoffs – Corriere.it

Expensive energy, inflation, recession and the chip crisis are holding back PC sales. In the third quarter of 2022, according to Gartner data, the worldwide shipments of personal computers were 68 million against 85 million in the same quarter 2021. Two factors have a negative impact: on the one hand, the drop in consumer demand, which remains low due to the economic uncertainty linked to inflation; on the other hand, the difficulties of the global supply chain weigh the amount of chips still unable to meet the needs of manufacturers of tech devices.

The reasons for the decline

A scenario accentuated by the economic instability caused by the war in Ukraine. Customer demand remained weak even if the activity of Apple and other manufacturers contributed, in the third quarter, to mitigate the fall – explains Jitesh Ubrani, analyst at International Data Group that monitors the PC sector – not surprisingly, the companies have reduced the number of devices offered for sale, with Apple alone being an exception, having increased the offer to compensate for orders lost in recent months, resulting from lockdowns in China. To respond to the crisis, major brands have raised the prices of products for sale online and in stores, focusing on the offer of premium, high-end PCsAll this contributes, for analysts, to raising the so-called Asp, the average selling price, the average selling price.

The ranking

According to data from IDC, Lenovo maintains the top spot in the PC market, with 16.9 million units shipped but a year-on-year decline of 16.1%. With 12.7 million units shipped, HP occupies the second position, despite a marked -27.8% over the same period of 2021. The annual decline of 21.2% for Dell, in third place, before Apple, the only one to have reported a positive sign, of + 13.5%, and annual growth of 40.2%. Closes the ranking of the top five Asus, with a -7.8% on the third quarter of 2021 and 5.5 million units shipped.

Jobs at risk

Falling sales are also putting jobs at risk. Intel Corporation, the American chip giant, is planning a major headcount reduction from thousands of posts. A choice linked to the need to cut costs linked to a fossilized PC market. According to Bloomberg, the layoffs will be announced as early as this month, likely on October 27 when the third quarter results are released. The chip maker had 113,700 employees as of July. In some divisions, including sales and marketing, the reductions could reach around 20% of the staff.