PCs, as well as the ICs that go in them, are continuing to show a 2010 sales recovery after the economic disasters of 2009.

Research out this week from iSuppli states that despite the slowdown in consumer sales, the PC market's recovery from 2009 remained on track in Q3 2010.

The market research company estimated that worldwide shipments amounted to 88.1 million units in the September quarter, up 6.7% from Q2. Shipments increased by 10.3% from 79.9 million units in Q3 2009, iSuppli reported.

ISuppli made note of corporate PC demand in the quarter -- evident in the 11% sequential gain in desktop shipments, compared to a 4.2% increase for notebooks -- and number two PC maker Dell Inc maintaining its position in the top 5 ranking. (See top five OEM table below)

"Dell in the third quarter continued to benefit from the relatively strong performance of the corporate PC market compared to the consumer segment," said Matthew Wilkins, iSuppli principal analyst for compute platforms research, in a statement. "Consumer PC sales growth slowed in the third quarter partly because back-to-school sales were lower than expected. However, since the second quarter, corporate demand for desktop PCs and entry-level servers has been strong, driven by companies' efforts to replace systems with newer, faster, more efficient computers. Dell has a higher mix of corporate business to the market than HP and Acer and therefore was less exposed to the consumer slowdown."

As PC sales rise, so do related IC sales and, as IC Insights Senior Market Research Analyst Rob Lineback reminds, PCs are the largest end-use application for ICs. The research company estimated that PCs will account for about 31% of the IC industry's total revenues in 2010.

"With personal computer shipments regaining strength and expected to grow 18% in 2010 to 351 million systems, sales of integrated circuits used in PCs will surge 34% this year and reach a record-high $81.4 billion compared to $60.7 billion in 2009," Lineback said in a statement.

Based on IC Insights' 2011 edition of its IC Market Drivers report, Lineback said worldwide PC unit shipments should rise 12% in 2011 to 394 million units with PC ICs sales expected to increase 10% to $89.2 billion.

"The strong recovery growth in PCs will snap a three-year losing streak for personal computer IC sales," he said. "The PC IC market fell 9% and 6% in 2008 and 2009, respectively, primarily due to weak computer unit growth in the economic recession. PC shipments grew less than 5% in 2009, following an anemic 8% increase in 2008. While personal computer shipments grew more than 12% in 2007, PC IC dollar volumes dropped 5% that year because of price erosion in DRAMs and microprocessors."

IC Insights estimated that between 2009 and 2014, the PC IC market will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8%, reaching $101.2 billion in the final year of the forecast period.

IC Insights pegged much of the near-term PC industry growth on portable systems. "PC integrated circuit sales have benefitted from the strong growth in portable computers, which tend to use higher priced ICs than desktop systems because of the need for lower-power operation and battery management issues," Lineback said. "Portable PCs overtook desktop shipments for the first time in 2009 (157 million versus 140 million, respectively)."

IC Insights estimated that unit sales of portable PCs-including notebooks, netbooks, and tablets-will grow 27% in 2010, reaching about 200 million units worldwide. Broken out, IC Insights said it expects notebook shipments will grow 20% to 155 million systems in 2010, while netbook sales are expected to rise 19% to 31 million systems and tablet shipments are expected to reach 14 million in 2010, up from a little over 1 million in 2009, excluding dedicated e-book readers.

Meanwhile, desktop PC shipments will grow 8% to 151 million in 2010, the company estimated.

In 2011, portable PC shipments are expected to climb 21% to 242 million units while desktop systems are forecast to rise just 1% to 152 million, IC Insights said.

The IC Insights report forecasted tablet shipment growth at 129% in 2011 to 32 million and reaching 86 million in 2014 for a131% a CAGR between 2009 and 2014. Netbooks are projected to grow at a CAGR of less than 7% in the five-year period to 36 million systems in 2014. Notebook PCs are expected to rise at a CAGR of 14% to 253 million during the period. Desktop PCs are forecast to increase at a CAGR of just 2% in the 2009 to 2014 period, reaching 155 systems in the final forecast year of the IC Market Drivers report.

By: DocMemory
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