PC Sales Expand Despite Asia’s Woes

The global personal computer market remained relatively unscathed by financial turmoil in Asia, posting double-digit gains in the third quarter, according to preliminary statistics to be released today by San Jose market research firm Dataquest.

Worldwide PC shipments grew 13.7% for the third quarter compared with the same period last year, to 22.6 million units, the report said. U.S. PC shipments posted even stronger gains, jumping 18.2% over last year to 9.5 million units.

About 60% of the worldwide consumption of PCs comes from U.S. and European markets, helping to blunt the problems in Asia.

“Asia and Japan are a big opportunity, but if they don’t do real well, it doesn’t completely wipe us out,” said Bill Schaub, vice president of personal computing for Dataquest.

Compaq Computer Corp. held on to its lead in the worldwide PC market, posting a 9.7% gain in the third quarter over the last year. IBM Corp.’s return to the retail segment helped it make a strong showing globally as well, with a 23.9% increase over last year.

Build-to-order Goliaths Dell Computer Corp. and Gateway Inc. posted the strongest worldwide gains, with Dell’s shipments in the third quarter growing 61% and Gateway’s increasing 37.5% over third-quarter 1997 figures.

Inventory reduction measures in the U.S. slowed Compaq’s growth here, leading it to post an 8% loss in PC shipments in the third quarter. Other computer makers reported strong gains, with Dell posting a 56.3% increase in shipments over last year, followed closely by Gateway, with a 44.1% increase. IBM enjoyed 36.3% growth in shipments over last year. Hewlett-Packard Co. posted gains of 32.5%.

Despite strong sales, small shipments of Apple Computer Inc.’s iMac failed to return the PC maker to the list of top five PC vendors. It was lumped into the “other” category, which overall grew 7.2% worldwide and 12% in the U.S. in the third quarter.