Ongoing chip shortage to continue in second half of 2021 amid WFH demands

As most people are working from home, the PC market has seen a high demand and subsequently the need for chips. The momentum is expected to reach a peak in the second half with back-to-school demand as well as the pent-up demand from H1 2021

While the global PC shipments grew 45 per cent (on-year) to 75.6 million in Q1 2021 owing to robust demand, an ongoing chip shortage will continue to affect the shipment schedules of PC brands and ODMs (original design manufacturers) in the second half this year, according to a new report.  

With a 24 per cent market share, Lenovo took the first place again in Q1 2021, followed by HP at 23 per cent and Dell at 17 per cent. 

The overall momentum of the PC market was mainly driven by the growth in gaming notebooks and surging demand from the work-from-home and study-from-home segments, which stimulated Chromebook sales, according to Counterpoint Research. 

"In Q2 2021, PC shipments will remain resilient with the pent-up demand from Q1 2021 extending to this quarter. We believe the top six vendors will continue to dominate the market with over 85 per cent share," said William Li, research analyst in Semiconductor and Components team.  

However, ODMs are still facing shortages of key components like power management IC, display driver IC (with display panel) and CPUs.  

"We have found a 20 per cent-30 per cent gap between orders (end-demand) and actual shipments (supply), largely owing to the component shortage beginning H2 2020," Li noted.  

Some vendors also said the demand for audio codec IC and LAN chip remained unsatisfied and would continue to remain so in the second half of this year.  

"Since we do not see any meaningful foundry capacity expansion in H2 2021, it is unlikely that the lead time for key IC components would recover from the current status," Li added.  

PC brands and ODMs cannot fully solve the shortage issue and clear the orders backlog and the report expects the demand-supply gap to gradually normalise in late H1 2022.  

In the second half this year, the momentum from the previous half will continue and reach a peak with back-to-school (some will be virtual classes) demand as well as the pent-up demand from H1 2021.  

Premium models with higher ASPs could take the lead via big promotions, which may squeeze out Chromebook's market share in H2 to some extent.  

"In all, we predict a 16.3 per cent YoY growth in 2021, with global shipments reaching 333 million," Li informed. 

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