Thailand's personal computer (PC) market should grow by 7.9% this year, based on demand from companies eager to transform their business, according to an analyst at IT research firm IDC Thailand.
In the first quarter of 2023, the market dipped 20.3% year-on-year, but grew 12.9% quarter-on-quarter thanks to consumer spending via the government's "Shop Dee Mee Kuen" (shop and payback scheme) tax deduction for shoppers from January to mid-February.
Puwanart Pientanyakij, market analyst for device research at IDC Thailand, cited the IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Device Tracker, which reported that the country reached 566,000 unit sales in the first quarter. The decline was led by the consumer segment, with shipments falling 31.1% year-on-year to 339,000 units.
Vendors have been focusing on clearing channel inventory since last year, amid the post-pandemic drop in demand, said IDC Thailand.
Most market players have been successful in bringing their inventory down to below 14 weeks of stock, which allowed them to increase sell-in of new gaming notebooks with the latest generation of graphic cards. Consumer demand was also revived, thanks to the Shop Dee Mee Kuen scheme.
In the first quarter, the commercial segment grew 4.1% year-on-year and 5.2% sequentially, reaching 226,000 unit sales. The growth was driven by the public sector spending its budgets ahead of the May election, and large enterprises, particularly in the banking sector, investing in PC renewals, security, and data transformation.
In terms of top-five market share in the first quarter, HP Inc gained 18.5% as its marketing campaign helped bring its inventory under control and fuel new consumer shipments. HP also delivered several deals in the public sector and very large business segment.
Even though Lenovo came in second place with 17% in the ranking, the vendor climbed to first place in the commercial market due to multiple wins in the public sector and enterprise segment.
Asus came third with 15.8% but remained the market leader in the consumer market. The company benefited from the launch of new gaming devices, which helped it lead branded gaming notebooks in the first quarter of 2023.
Dell Technologies came in fourth with a 13.1% market share. Although most of Dell's projects were delivered in the previous quarter, it was one of the few brands to show year-on-year growth in commercial notebook shipments, thanks to several deals in the corporate market.
Acer Group came in fifth place with a 10.7% share. The vendor delivered several deals in the public sector and very large business segment while focusing on correcting channel inventory in the consumer segment.
"Despite the growth, PC vendors are concerned about upcoming projects because the commercial market has largely adopted a wait-and-see attitude after the general election in May 2023, as they wait to see whether the new government's policies will boost the overall economy," said Mr Puwanart.
