01. Dell and HP's PC business is declining
Dell Is the Worst of the Worst in a Miserable PC Industry. It's not a stretch to presume rival computer companies like Lenovo, Apple, and HP are running into the same headwind.
HP's personal systems segment suffered an 11.3% year-over-year revenue decline in the fiscal third quarter, which ended on July 31. HP likely gained market share — global shipments during the calendar second quarter dropped 13.4%, according to IDC. HP shipped 3% more units than during the prior-year period, but average pricing tumbled by a double-digit percentage.
There's still too much inventory across the PC industry, which is putting pressure on pricing. This was true for both consumer and commercial PCs. Another headwind is weak demand in China. HP expects the inventory situation to be largely normalized by the end of its fiscal fourth quarter, which could lead to an improving pricing environment.
02. Global Enterprise SSD Revenue Hits New Low in Q2
TrendForce research reveals that, due to the impacts of high inflation and economic downturn, CSPs are adopting more conservative strategies when it comes to capital expenditure and consistently reducing their annual server demand forecasts.
Currently, CSPs in China have reported a decline in cloud orders compared to last year, leading to a subsequent decrease in annual procurement volumes for enterprise SSDs. In North America, some clients have postponed mass production timelines for new server platforms while ramping up investments in AI servers. These factors have resulted in enterprise SSD orders falling below expectations.
Consequently, global enterprise SSD revenue hit an all-time low in the second quarter, totaling just $1,500 million—a QoQ decrease of 24.9%.
03. US Government Halts Sales of NVIDIA’s AI GPUs to Middle Eastern Nations
The US government has reportedly halted the sale of NVIDIA's AI GPUs to Middle Eastern nations to prevent indirect technology transfer to China.
04. Semiconductor downturn eclipses strong AI demand, says Broadcom
In spite of strong demand for chips thanks to the generative AI, Broadcom expects the semiconductor soft landing to continue, eclipsing other growth engines for the company.
05. Samsung reportedly to build 236-layer NAND at P1 facility
Following rumors that said Samsung Electronics was considering halting some of its NAND flash production at its P1 facility in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, new rumors have now emerged that Samsung plans to convert some 128-layer NAND production lines to 236-layer NAND in the facility, focusing on advanced products rather than mature ones.
06. Foxconn, HP, Dell propose to make computers in India
With the upcoming license requirements for imported computers, India's incentive scheme for locally-made tablets and notebooks has attracted interest from global PC vendors.
07. Raptor Lake Refresh will raise the price by 15%
Intel's next processor generation, the 14th-gen Raptor Lake Refresh, is expected to land in just over a month, and that means the leaks are coming thick and fast. The latest of these involves the CPUs' price points, which are reportedly 15% more expensive on average than the current 13th-gen Raptor Lake MSRPs.