As demand for work-from-home computers declines and supply chain issues affect computer manufacturers, Acer, the world’s No. 5 PC manufacturer by market share, has noticed a slowdown in the volume of its orders.
But according to Jerry Kao, the company’s co-chief operating officer, Acer is working on a fix. By offering notebooks that are easy to repair and constructed from recyclable materials, Acer hopes to improve its reputation as a responsible corporate citizen.
Following “pretty OK” earnings from January through March, Kao claims that the weakness in Acer’s PC demand became apparent in the second quarter of this year. First quarter preliminary consolidated revenues were $2.6 billion, up 9.5 percent from the same period the previous year. Second-quarter results from Acer have not yet been made public.
In an interview, Kao stated that “demand is currently really falling in all PC segments.” “Many issues, the war issue, the infection issue—Q2 suddenly started to alter. I believe all PC manufacturers are still having trouble. Because they are supplied in eastern China, several upstream components have arrived late, he continues. Shenzhen and Shanghai, two key economic hubs, were subject to lockdowns earlier this year.
According to Kao and others, the industry has seen a slowdown in the dramatic increase in demand for PCs that occurred in 2020 and 2021 when home-bound consumers bought laptops for teleworking and online learning.
According to market research company IDC, shipments of traditional PCs decreased 5.1 percent in the first quarter as the industry “came off two years of double-digit growth.” According to IDC, vendors shipped more than 80 million PCs in the year’s first three months. Due in part to the fact that two Ukrainian companies produce the lasers required in chip fabrication, the war in Ukraine has disrupted the supply of semiconductors.
Because a large portion of Acer’s production is located in the western Chinese city of Chongqing, which missed the scope of lockdowns in Shenzhen and Shanghai, Kao claims that the company was able to weather supply chain issues earlier this year.
According to IDC data, the Taipei suburb-based, 45-year-old company held the fifth-place spot in the first quarter’s global PC market share. The top three were Lenovo, HP, Dell, and Apple. A decade prior, managerial changes in an industry that was becoming more competitive had caused Acer to have financial difficulties. However, the company’s ability to mount a recovery was partly due to the creation of Chromebooks and gaming PCs.
According to Kao, Acer debuted its environmentally friendly Aspire Vero line last year to acquire a “significantly superior” position against rivals that are producing comparable PC products.
According to Acer, the case and keycaps of Vero laptops are made from post-consumer recycled materials. The packaging contains up to 85% recycled paper. Three laptops, one all-in-one, and accessories including keyboards made up the first three models in the series. The PCs are simple to disassemble and repair, so Kao claims that they can be fixed rather than discarded in favour of new ones. Vero models go for much as $600 online.
If you want something special, we’ll show up, says Kao. The majority of our efforts are now focused on showcasing the competitive advantages that we have over others.
