STAMFORD, CT — Worldwide PC shipments totaled 68 million units in the third quarter of 2022, a 19.5% decrease from the third quarter of 2021, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. This is the steepest market decline since Gartner began tracking the PC market in the mid-1990s and the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline.

“This quarter’s results could mark a historic slowdown for the PC market,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Director Analyst at Gartner. “While supply chain disruptions have finally eased, high inventory has now become a major issue given weak PC demand in both the consumer and business markets. Back to school sales ended with disappointing results despite massive promotions and price drops, due to a lack of need as many consumers had purchased new PCs in the last two years. On the business side, geopolitical and economic uncertainties led to more selective IT spending, and PCs were not at the top of the priority list.”

The top three vendors in the worldwide PC market remained unchanged in the third quarter of 2022, with Lenovo maintaining the No. 1 spot in shipments with 25.2% market share.

Lenovo gained market share compared to a year ago, although shipments declined year-over-year. While the company’s overall shipments were down in all regions except Canada, the EMEA desktop market saw growth, fueled by production beginning in Lenovo’s first in-house manufacturing facility in Europe which opened in Hungary in June 2022.

HP experienced a challenging quarter with a sharp decline in overall global shipments. HP recorded growth in select regions in the desktop market, but overall laptop shipments suffered declines.

Dell narrowed its market share difference from HP, recording year-over-year growth in the desktop market in all regions except in Asia Pacific. However, Dell’s laptop shipments declined in all regions except for Japan.

Regional Overview

The U.S. PC market declined 17.3% in the third quarter of 2022, the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year shipment decline. Slowed laptop sales drove the overall U.S. market down, but the desktop market showed modest growth driven by pent up demand among businesses as well as public sector purchases.

“Inflation is the biggest concern in the U.S. market, but smaller businesses are showing relative optimism about macroeconomic conditions,” said Kitagawa. “While laptop demand among large enterprises sharply decreased in the third quarter of 2022, small and midsize businesses did not show as steep of a drop.”

Dell secured the top spot in the U.S. PC market based on shipments with 26.8% market share, while HP followed with 23.2% share.

The EMEA PC market decreased 26.4% year-over-year in the third quarter, reaching 17 million units – the steepest decline among all regions. This is the third negative quarter for the EMEA PC market following a boom at the start of the pandemic.

“Multiple factors led to significant deterioration in the EMEA PC market, including challenging macroeconomic conditions, declining business and consumer demand and high levels of inventory,” said Kitagawa. “Additionally, many PC vendors shuttered operations in Russia in the first two quarters of this year, which negatively impacted overall shipments and is particularly visible across year-to-year comparisons.”

Excluding Japan, the Asia Pacific market declined 16.6% year-over-year, largely due to slowed shipments in China. In the third quarter of 2021, China had almost fully resumed normal daily life and economic activity, but lockdowns this year across different cities slowed business operations and led to decreased PC demand across the government, enterprise and consumer markets.

MEUNG-SUR-LOIRE, FRANCE — French EMS provider All Circuits is looking for room to grow its operations by purchasing a new plant in France or elsewhere in Europe.

The company opened a 6,000 sq. meter expansion at its production facility in Meung-sur-Loire, in southern France, earlier this year, and that expansion is already at full capacity, All Circuits President Bruno Racault told Evertiq.

"All of the new wing that we added this year is fully booked already, so I'm looking to purchase a new plant now," he said.

Racault said he would prefer the new plant be located in France if possible, or at least somewhere in Europe to supply the local market, and the new facility would have a turnover of around EUR 100-200 million (US $103-206 million).

"The business is there and it's really booming," he said.

All Circuits also needs a new facility in China, not for the European market but to serve the local market in that area, and that would be in two or three years, Racault said.

LOUISVILLE, KY — Sypris reported revenue of $25.2 million for the third quarter, down slightly from the $25.7 million in revenue for the third quarter of 2021.

VEJLE, DENMARK — GPV announced revenues of DKK 1.2 billion (US $163 million)for the third quarter, the company's highest ever revenue for a single quarter and a 45% increase from the third quarter of 2021.

BANNOCKBURN, IL — A sharp increase in salary budgets and use of flexible hours programs for North American electronics assembly companies are among the findings of a new study published by IPC this week.

WASHINGTON — The 90-day moving average sales of semiconductors worldwide in September fell 3% year over year and 0.5% sequentially, the Semiconductor Industry Association announced today.

SAINT-HERBLAIN, FRANCE -- Lacroix reported third quarter revenue of €178.1 million ($179.6 million), up 61.3% from a year ago on organic growth and acquisitions.

SAN JOSE, CA — Sanmina Corporation announced revenues of $2.2 billion for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, with revenues for the entire fiscal year totaling $7.9 billion.

JASPER, IN -- Kimball Electronics announced fiscal first quarter revenues of $405.9 million, up 39% from a year ago.

MILPITAS, CA ─ Global silicon wafer shipments are projected to increase 4.8% year-over-year in 2022 to a record high of nearly 14,700 millions of square inches (MSI), SEMI reported in its annual silicon shipment forecast for the semiconductor industry. 

PATHUMTANI, THAILAND — SVI Public Company announced that revenues for the company's third quarter were THB 7.01 billion (US $187 million), up 58.9% from the third quarter of 2021.

The EMS provider said year-to-date revenues were up 59.6% from last year, with the company seeing THB 18.7 billion (US $500 million) so far this year compared to THB 11.7 billion (US $313 million) at this point in 2021.

WESTLAKE, OH — Nordson has announced that it has completed its acquisition of CyberOptics, a developer and manufacturer of high-precision 3D optical sensing technology solutions. The completion of the deal follows the company's announcement this August that it had entered into an agreement to acquire the business.

In a press release announcing the completion of the transaction, Nordson said the acquisition enhances the company's test and inspection platform, providing differentiated technology that expands its product offering in the semiconductor and electronics industries.