Chinese computer maker Lenovo has increased its lead over its American competitor HP in the PC market. In the first quarter of this year, the group had a worldwide market share of 22.7 percent.
At the same time, HP saw its market share shrink to 20 percent, according to research firm IDC.
Lenovo, which also came up with figures, posted a profit of 386 million euros in the first three months of the year. That represented an increase of 58 percent compared to a year earlier. The profit was also higher than experts had generally anticipated. Turnover was 15.6 billion euros less than expected.
PC manufacturers are looking for new ways to grow. In the corona pandemic, the companies took advantage of the high demand for equipment to enable remote working or online learning. With the easing of the pandemic, this demand is diminishing somewhat. The company may be able to take advantage of new government regulations. Beijing has ordered government agencies and state-owned enterprises to replace foreign PCs with local brands over the next two years. This means there is a demand for at least 50 million PCs from local manufacturers such as Lenovo.
On the other hand, the company is seeing increasing headwinds from the strict measures imposed by China to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Many stores are closed and Lenovo loses important sales channels.
In addition, the processing industry and logistics have been paralyzed, which affects production. Major cities such as Shanghai were locked for weeks. According to experts, the corona measures at Lenovo may cause more damage than other brands because the Chinese company is largely dependent on sales in the home market in terms of turnover.