Unisys to stop making PCs

"We will stop manufacturing PCs ourselves," said Martin Sexton, VP of corporate communications for the company. "As almost everybody else has done, we will sub-contract and the systems will be made by a third-party. The reaction has been good. Most people thought we should have done this years ago."

Unisys has until now been manufacturing PCs in France and California and sold close to 300,000 units globally in the last year under the Aquanta brand, gleaning about $500 million in revenues.

Sexton said that number was "never going to make us part of the big league" and added that he expects volume to grow as a result of outsourcing manufacturing to another maker. The name of that maker will be revealed late in February or early in March. Some channel expansion will occur but Sexton said he doesn't expect Unisys to attack the volume market.

Unisys's stock price was up nearly four per cent on the news yesterday.