Taipei: PC and printer major HP is reportedly moving production of millions of consumer and commercial laptops to Thailand and Mexico this year in a bid to diversify its supply chain beyond China.
According to a Nikkei Asia report, this is the first “substantial step” by the US-based company in taking its personal computer supply chain beyond China.
According to the report, “HP is also planning to move some laptop production to Vietnam from next year,” said one of the suppliers.
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The company is following Dell and Apple in diversifying their supply chains beyond China, which underwent significant disruptions in the pandemic.
“HP plans to move some commercial notebook computer production to Mexico, while a portion of its consumer laptop production will go to Thailand,” the report claimed, citing sources.
Global PC shipments saw a 15 percent decline (year-on-year) in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, but grew by 8 percent (quarter-on-quarter).
According to Counterpoint Research, Lenovo maintained its leading position in PC shipments despite an 18 percent (year-over-year) decline, while HP and Apple showed solid performance with market share increases.
According to Gartner, after seven consecutive quarters of year-over-year declines, the PC market is showing early signs of stabilization, including last quarter’s sequential growth.
He added that Gartner expects PC inventory to normalize by the end of 2023 and PC demand to start growing again from 2024.
HP shipments declined only slightly in the second quarter, ending a streak of consecutive double-digit declines. Its laptop shipments grew marginally, but this was offset by a decline in desktop shipments, the report said.