Strong Asia Pacific PC growth
SINGAPORE - The Asia Pacific market grew 26 percent in unit terms in the second quarter of 2000 compared to second quarter 1999, equivalent to shipments of 4.1 million units. Market confidence in the economy, the continual IT infrastructure expansionary plans for the new e-enabled business model, together with lower penetration rates continue to drive growth in the region.
China maintains the lead in the region with market share of 38.3 percent this quarter as shown in Table 1. The general economy in the country is currently buoyant and this has in turn supported the growth of the PC market. Strong growth is expected from the local vendors due to huge numbers of newly registered local PC brands. Purchasing activities in the home market has picked up especially in cities like Shanghai, Beijing, and GuangZhou.
| Asia Pacific Unit Shipment Share Estimates by country, 2Q00 | ||||
2000 Q2 Share | 1999 Q2 Share | Y/Y | Q/Q | |
| China | 38.2% | 36.1% | 33% | 16% |
| Korea | 19.5% | 13.3% | 84% | -17% |
| Australia | 13.1% | 17.2% | -4% | 12% |
| Taiwan | 6.1% | 10.8% | -30% | -1% |
| India | 5.8% | 4.9% | 49% | 5% |
| Hong Kong | 3.4% | 3.2% | 37% | 14% |
| Singapore | 2.9% | 3.4% | 10% | 6% |
| Malaysia | 2.4% | 2.6% | 17% | 21% |
| Thailand | 2.2% | 1.7% | 65% | 25% |
| Indonesia | 2.1% | 1.9% | 40% | -12% |
| New Zealand | 1.6% | 2.1% | 0% | 30% |
| Philippines | 1.4% | 1.8% | 2% | -4% |
| Vietnam | 0.7% | 0.8% | 6% | 7% |
| Rest of Asia/Pacific | 0.6% | 0.5% | 32% | -4% |
| Asia Pacific | 100.0% | 100.0% | 26% | 5% |
| Note: The number includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs only | ||||
| Source: Gartner/Dataquest (July 2000) | ||||
With the Korean government initiatives to spur IT infrastructure growth especially in the Internet environment with the Internet PC project as well as in the Education sector, the PC market is still healthy even though it registered a seasonal quarter on quarter decrease. The market has increased by 84 percent in unit growth compared to the previous year. Heavy competition and price war was observed among the major vendors including Samsung, TriGem, and Hyunju, which benefited the buyers
"As the growth in countries such as China and Korea spur the region on to greater heights, and the ASEAN countries continually lifting themselves over previous year results. The region is on track to break the 18 million units for year 2000, with a total growth rate for the year in the realms of 35% year on year," comments Ian Bertram, Regional Director & Principal Analyst (Computers and Peripherals) at Gartner's Dataquest Asia/Pacific.
The Australian market suffered a negative growth as compared to a year ago as a result of companies holding off buying prior to the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The GST implementation is expected to reduce the cost of PC hardware. In the quarter, it has been noted that vendors have been aggressively targeting at the small and medium enterprises with their marketing campaign.
Better performance in the professional market was noted for this quarter after the first quarter 2000’s Y2K related issues and festive season. Governments in the different countries in the region continue to place emphasis on developing a knowledge-based economy with a labor force that is capable of utilizing IT which has lead to overall increase in demand for PCs in the region.
Table 2 shows the estimates for Asia Pacific PC vendor unit shipments in the second quarter 2000 by market share. Leading the top of the list is Legend, followed by IBM who was No.1 a year ago. The explosion in the China PC market has undeniably made the number one vendor in the country a dominant player in the region.
| Asia Pacific Unit Shipment Share Estimates by vendor, 2Q00 | ||||
Ranking | 2000 Q2 Share | 1999 Q2 Share | Y/Y growth | |
| 1 | Legend | 10.9% | 6.5% | 109.6% |
| 2 | IBM | 7.8% | 8.5% | 16.1% |
| 3 | Samsung Electronics | 7.6% | 5.4% | 78.0% |
| 4 | Compaq Computer | 6.9% | 7.3% | 19.1% |
| 5 | Hewlett- Packard | 5.3% | 4.9% | 35.9% |
| 6 | Acer | 5.2% | 5.4% | 20.9% |
| 7 | TriGem Computer | 5.0% | 2.7% | 132.8% |
| 8 | Dell Computer | 3.6% | 2.6% | 72.4% |
| 9 | Toshiba | 2.1% | 2.3% | 15.6% |
| 10 | Great Wall | 2.0% | 1.8% | 35.4% |
| Others | 43.4% | 52.5% | 4.0% | |
| Asia Pacific | 100% | 100% | 26% | |
| Note: The number includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs only | ||||
| Source: Gartner/Dataquest (July 2000) | ||||
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