Working from home creates demand PC shipments hit a ten-year high in 2021

According to preliminary data released by IDC on January 12, global PC shipments in 2021 surged by 14.8% year-on-year, returning to the high of 349 million units in 2012, rebounding more than 34% from the industry low in 2017.

Since 2012, with the popularity of smart phones and the advent of the mobile Internet era, the PC industry has been regarded by investors as a "sunset industry" without compromise.

However, the onslaught of the pandemic has changed that. With the gradual spread of the new crown epidemic, countries around the world have been blockaded, economic shutdowns, resulting in a significant increase in the demand for remote work, education, families need to buy computers for school children to take online classes, companies need to equip employees with notebooks to let them work online, which led to a surge in PC sales in the past two years, making this long-dormant technology industry glow a second spring.

According to IDC statistics, the six companies with the largest PC shipments in 2021 are Lenovo, HP, Dell, Apple, Asus and Acer. At the same time, the peak demand in the PC industry occurred in the period of "global lack of cores", which also led to the performance of companies in the semiconductor field such as Apple, Intel, AMD, and Nvidia soaring.

However, the market is still facing the question of whether the recovery of the PC industry will be short-lived, and will PC shipments return to the downward channel after the epidemic has passed? Last December, IDC predicted that the peak of market demand has passed and PC sales will slow down in 2022.

In this regard, some of the "big manufacturers" in the PC industry have raised objections and are still optimistic about the future PC field.

Last October, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger believed that the PC market would embark on a new path driven by the pandemic. In an interview with CNBC, he said:

"We do think the PC business structure will be bigger now."

Rahul Tikoo, senior vice president of Dell's Customer Product Group, believes that the pandemic has permanently changed consumer spending habits, and now everyone needs their own computer, which is very similar to the smartphone industry. He said:

"I think the PC industry is in a transition phase right now. We are moving from one PC per household to one PC per person, and that's the smartphone model. ”