After years of weakness, the PC market is finally showing some signs of health. Indeed, Intel Corp. (INTC) today raised its Q3 revenue forecast -- predicting revenues will be roughly $15.6 billion, up from a previous target of roughly $14.9 billion. The chip giant said the PC supply chain and the PC market overall are "seeing some signs" of improving demand.
That doesn't happy days are here again for PC makers and their suppliers. But companies like Dell, HP Inc. and Lenovo certainly should welcome the news. Although all three companies depend heavily on PC sales, each of the three businesses has been striving to diversify beyond PCs.
- Dell recently completed the EMC buyout, essentially creating Dell Technologies to focus more heavily on enterprise data centers.
- HP is buying Samsung's printer business for more than $1 billion, doubling down on multi-function printer (MPF) opportunities.
- And Lenovo continues to evangelize hyperconvereged data centers to its midmarket channel partners.
PC Market Friction and Forecasts
PC sales had slumped in recent years for a range of reasons -- including the rise of smartphones and tablets; poor reception to Windows 8 in 2011; and alternative form factors like Chromebooks. Still, many of the "newer" hardware trends (i.e., tablet sales) have also cooled off.
