Asia's Q2 PC shipments beat forecast
This second quarter growth figure is higher than the 9.1 percent preliminary figure Gartner predicted for PC shipments last week.
China led the way in PC shipments, with about 2 million units in the second quarter. This represented a year-on-year growth of about 26 percent (See table below).
"(The) stable economic situation in China and the impending finalization of the World Trade Organization and the successful bid of the 2008 Olympics will continue to sustain growth in the country," Gartner said in a statement yesterday.
India, which had PC shipments of about 447,000 units, saw the highest year-on-year growth in the second quarter of about 82 percent. Another country which performed well in terms of growth was Malaysia, which registered 57 percent year-on-year growth.
Gartner Dataquest senior analyst Lillian Tay said last week (after the preliminary figures were announced) that Malaysia's high growth rate was due in part to the government's efforts to equip every home with a PC, and the higher investments in school computer labs.
Gartner also noted that the "low PC penetration rates" in China, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia supported the second quarter's PC growth in Asia Pacific.
The research firm also noted in the statement that the flat or negative growth rates from countries including Korea, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and New Zealand resulted in the "sluggish" performance of the region.
"The effects of the US economy slowdown and PC saturation continue to impact the growth of these countries," Gartner said.
Korea, for instance, which had about 735,000 PC shipments in the second quarter, registered the largest year-on-year negative growth with -15.9 percent. Australia also saw negative year-on-year growth of -13.5 percent, but it was third in terms of PC shipments in the second quarter, with about 482,000 units.
Gartner noted that PC growth in mature markets including Korea, Taiwan, Australia and Singapore was driven by users replacing their PCs with new ones. "With the current economic situation, users are extending the life cycle of the PCs and...sustained high growth rates are improbable," Gartner said.
China's Legend Holdings was the top vendor with about 565,000 units, translating to a year-on-year growth of about 22 percent. It also captured 12 percent of the total PC market in the second quarter of this year, compared with 11 percent in the corresponding period last year, Gartner said.
IBM and LG-IBM came in runner-up with about 387,000 PC units, showing a 12.5 percent year-on-year growth in the second quarter.
This was followed by Compaq Computer with about 355,000 units (representing a 13.5 percent growth), and Samsung Electronics with about 304,000 units (-17.8 percent growth).
One company which failed to make it into the top five list in the second quarter was Hewlett-Packard, which was overtaken by Dell Computer for fifth place. The latter chalked up about 234,000 units.
PC unit shipments in Asia Pacific
| Country | Q2 2001 | Y-o-Y growth (%) | Q-o-Q growth (%) |
| China | 2,053,062 | 26.3 | 8 |
| Korea | 734,780 | -15.9 | -13 |
| Australia | 481,906 | -13.5 | 0.5 |
| India | 447,180 | 81.5 | 29.3 |
| Taiwan | 266,299 | 1 | 1.3 |
| Malaysia | 159,157 | 57 | 8.8 |
| Singapore | 123,692 | -1.8 | -11 |
| Philippines | 59,883 | -0.9 | -4.5 |
| Rest of AP | 37,754 | 47.7 | 12.7 |