This is another indicator that confirms (for those who doubted it) that we are living a difficult sequence in the PC industry. The latest report TrendForce reveals that shipments of notebook panels to manufacturers are at their lowest level in 10 years. In almost 12 months, the overall shipment volume has almost halved. Obviously, this is due to the sharp drop in demand, but also to the overstocking effect of some manufacturers who saw the golden age of the pandemic going on forever.
Slab deliveries to notebook assemblers :
Anything that goes up abnormally must come down hard
We’re here because even if it’s not euphoria on the demand front, demand should increase over the end of the year and a +3.5% growth forecast is envisaged for the first quarter of 2023…But that shouldn’t be enough. Unfortunately, these figures are not going to hurt the volume of slab inventory held by notebook assemblers. Most observers indicate that inventories would have to be significantly lowered to return to a healthy situation. So we can expect a particularly crazy period for prices until the end of the first half of 2023. Of course, all of this speculation is based on the current economic situation. A further deterioration of the global economy could further weaken the ecosystem.
