The status of a large contract manufacturer of computers and mobile devices allows the president of Compal Electronics to make authoritative statements and forecasts about the development trend of the market. As the DigiTimes resource notes , the head of this contract manufacturer believes that the demand for personal computers will return to growth already this year. In any case, Compal itself expects to increase PC production volumes by 10% to 40 million units at the end of the year.
There are, however, some important reservations. First, the demand for PCs will begin to grow mainly from corporate consumers, who will face the end of the cycle of support for Windows 7. Secondly, the demand for computers from the consumer market will also grow, albeit gradually. In any case, European consumers have already begun to take an active interest in new computers, as noted in Compal.
In the current quarter, there is a shortage of RAM and displays, but the situation is still better than before. Demand and supply will approach equilibrium in the third quarter, according to President Compal. Solid-state drives will remain in deficit until 2018, because production capacity is simply not enough.