Desktop PC and monitor sales are poised to rebound and resume growth in 2022, buoyed by strong demand coming from the enterprise sector, according to Jeff Lin, president of ODM Wistron.
Lin pointed out that demand for desktop PCs and monitors from the enterprise market will rise as more companies are asking their employees to return to the office. While acknowledging that component shortages for notebooks will greatly improve in the second half of 2022, Lin said notebook shipments will likely stay flat this year considering the current supply and demand ratio.
Lin noted that the supply of power management ICs (PMICs) and other server components is expected to stay tight throughout 2022. As demand for servers remains strong, there will be a clear supply/demand imbalance in the server market this year, he explained.
Lin said Wistron is expected to receive 10% more orders from its clients in 2022. However, due to limited order visibility in the second half of the year, the company's product shipments will stay flat compared to 2021, he said.
Noting that Wistron has been moving toward the commercial and high-end notebook markets in recent years, Lin said commercial notebooks now account for 45% of Wistron's total notebook shipments and 50% of its revenues. The company is also introducing consumer notebooks for high-end gaming applications, he added.
Lin expects the company to register growth in its revenues and gross margin this year, and said the company has begun shipping its AI-related server products such as GPU server. Wistron has also resumed operation at its factories in India and is expecting growth in its IoT, industrial PC (IPC), and automotive electronics businesses, he said.
Wistron chairman Simon Lin said the company is expanding its share in the PC market. It is also trying to improve its gross margin by boosting its production efficiency and investing in industries with high growth potential, he explained.
The chairman emphasized that geopolitical risks will be a bigger challenge for Wistron than component shortages in the future. In response, the company has been increasing its production capacities in Vietnam, Taiwan and Mexico, he said. Although China currently contributes 50-60% of Wistron's revenues, the share is expected to drop as the company's production capacities in other countries expand, he noted.
Wistron: Consolidated revenues, Feb 2021 - Feb 2022 (NT$m) | |||||
Month | Sales | M/M | Y/Y | YTD | Y/Y |
Feb-22 | 64,629 | (3.5%) | 30.6% | 131,587 | 21.8% |
Jan-22 | 66,958 | (30.3%) | 14.3% | 66,958 | 14.3% |
Dec-21 | 96,078 | 11.5% | 30.7% | 861,150 | 1.9% |
Nov-21 | 86,204 | 7.4% | (0.7%) | 765,072 | (0.8%) |
Oct-21 | 80,238 | (2.9%) | 11.1% | 678,868 | (0.9%) |
Sep-21 | 82,593 | 17.5% | 19.5% | 598,630 | (2.3%) |
Aug-21 | 70,279 | 4.1% | 0.4% | 516,038 | (5%) |
Jul-21 | 67,521 | (6.1%) | (14%) | 445,759 | (5.8%) |
Jun-21 | 71,904 | 17.9% | (9%) | 378,238 | (4.2%) |
May-21 | 60,974 | (10.6%) | (19%) | 306,334 | (3%) |
Apr-21 | 68,221 | (1.3%) | 2% | 245,360 | 2% |
Mar-21 | 69,092 | 39.6% | 1.1% | 177,139 | 2% |
Feb-21 | 49,478 | (15.5%) | 10.3% | 108,047 | 2.6% |
Source: TWSE, compiled by Digitimes, March 2022
Article translated by Kevin Cheng
