CPU Shipments, Especially Desktops, Take Historic Dive on Economic Downturn

From PC Mag: Demand for PCs has cooled to the point that x86 CPU shipments saw a historic plunge in Q2, according to Mercury Research, which tracks component sales.

Mercury Research says desktop CPU shipments during the May to June period fell to their “lowest level in nearly three decades," decreasing by more than 15% year over year.

The research firm didn't provide exact shipment numbers, but Mercury Research President Dean McCarron said in an email: "I had to go back to the mid-1990s to find desktop CPU shipments in any given quarter lower than the number of units that shipped in Q2."

In Q1, desktop CPU shipments also saw a historic quarter-on-quarter decline at 30%. "There has been a very long-term decline in desktop PC use in favor of notebooks that is the primary driver over the past decade or more. This was combined with the short-term inventory correction that has resulted in the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) slowing purchases of new CPUs," McCarron added. "The combined result of both of these is the historic low."

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