Sales of PCs across the world could fall this year for the fist
time in almost 10 years with sales for the final months of last
year plummeting by more than18%.
IDC analyst Loren
Lorverdetold the Financial Times that PC sales figures could enter
negative territory for the first time since 2001.
The Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region has seen a
decline as regions other than Western Europe cut PC spending.
According to IDC, growth in PC sales in EMEA slowed from 20% in
the first nine months of 2008 to 1.8% in the last quarter. Growth
in Western Europe was still positive at 12%, sales dropped by 24%
in Central and Eastern Europe, and remained flat in the Middle East
and Africa.
The slowdown is also having a
major effect on Microchip manufactures. Intel reported a 90%
drop in profits for the fourth quarter last year compared with the
same period in 2007.
It will cut up to 6,000 jobs when it closes two chip
manufacturing plants and two test facilities.
Samsung's chip division reported a $403m loss, which it blamed
on oversupply in the market.
AMD has reported a 35% decrease in revenue compared with the
third quarter of 2008 and a 33% decrease compared with the last
quarter of 2007. It will cut 1,100 jobs on top of 2,000 last
year.