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An ordinary laptop used to be the kind of purchase you could put off until the old one finally gave up.
I recently discussed this in my story, Intel CEO reveals a PC problem as Goldman cuts stock target, in which I shared how my friends struggled to choose new PCs due to soaring prices.
Moreover, the tech punditry says the problem goes deeper than a few disappointing deals.
Now, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su has delivered a similar warning on November 3, echoing Intel (INTC) CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s concerns about a difficult year ahead for the PC market in 2027.
Most of that pressure’s coming from memory prices, but interestingly, AMD itself posted record quarterly sales, largely driven by booming server-chip sales.
That raises the question, though: how can the same technology boom enrich chipmakers while making everyday computers harder to buy?
AMD CEO Lisa Su sees a double-digit PC market decline in 2027
AMD CEO Lisa Su isn’t counting on a PC sales recovery next year. Instead, she’s preparing for another decline.
“Our planning assumption for 2027 is that the market will be double-digit percentage down,” Su told analysts on November 3 at the company’s earnings call.
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Her explanation goes directly to the checkout counter.
“Our view is this is one of those times when component prices go up, it affects overall system pricing,” she said, adding that price-sensitive consumers have already slowed their purchases.
Gartner estimates worldwide PC shipments sank 22.4% in Q3 to 55.4 million units, as expensive memory and storage pushed lower-cost computers out of reach.
And AMD isn’t alone in sounding the alarm.
As I recently covered, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan raised the same concern on October 29.
“In recent weeks, our customers began signaling a PC slowdown based on the memory prices and availability,” Tan said.
Intel CFO David Zinsner put numbers behind that warning, with the company expecting PC unit shipments to decline by about 10% in 2027, following a projected 12% decline this year.
TrendForce sees pressure too, though its forecast is less severe. It predicts notebook shipments will decline by a low-single-digit percentage next year, potentially worsening to a high-single-digit percentage if component inflation persists.
Su says AMD will target premium laptops, desktops, and corporate customers to outperform the industry. Which raises a question: Why are ordinary PCs becoming harder to sell when demand for computing power is exploding in data centers?
