Thailand's PC market is expected to receive a boost from the "Shop Dee Mee Khuen" tax rebate scheme, a brighter economic outlook and a stronger baht in the first half of this year, says tech market research firm IDC Thailand.
"Many factors can help the local PC market, such as the tax deduction in the first quarter of 2023, the IMF forecast for the Thai market and an improving exchange rate," said Puwanart Pientanyakij, a market analyst at IDC Thailand.
He said most IT product distributors still carry a huge amount of stock and require more than six months to clear the inventory.
"We expect after the election in May there should be year-on-year growth for the local PC market," Mr Puwanart said.
According to IDC's "Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker" report, the country's PC market in the third quarter of 2022 fell 18.5% year-on-year, but grew 6.7% from the second quarter by 633,000 units, buoyed by an improvement in supply.
IDC said demand has softened across segments, forcing vendors and channels to focus on clearing inventory.
Accordingly, first-tier distributors have recently been cautious about ordering new shipments, especially notebook products, to avoid overstocking. Some products were overstocked for more than 14 weeks.
"The rising inflation rate has slowed down demand," said Mr Puwanart. "However, there are some growth opportunities that are getting more attention from vendors."
The PC market is divided into three categories, comprising desktops, notebooks and workstations, according to IDC.
Regarding the desktop segment, as businesses have returned to offices since the beginning of 2022, demand for desktops began to pick up in the second quarter of last year.
In the third quarter, desktops saw strong growth of 9.7% year-on-year and 14% sequentially to reach 271,000 units.
The share of desktop sales in the PC market rose from 40% in the second quarter to 43% in the third quarter, compared with around 30% in the first quarter.
The PC market was still dominated by notebooks in the third quarter with a share of around 55%.
Vendors and channels are focusing on clearing their notebook inventory, according to IDC.
The research firm expects a higher share of desktop products from the public sector and very large enterprises in the final quarter of 2022.
