Following an unprecedented boom during the pandemic as consumers and businesses snapped up PCs, the bottom fell out of the PC market last year. Global PC unit shipments plunged 16.2% in 2022, according to . The beginning of this year has been no better. Shipments crashed 30% year over year in the first quarter.

There have been two problems plaguing the PC market. First, demand has declined. PC upgrades that would have been occurring now were pulled forward by the pandemic. People who frantically bought a new laptop in 2020 because they were working from home have little incentive to upgrade now.

Second, this drop in demand created a surplus in inventories, both PCs and some components. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and rival Advanced Micro Devices have been selling PC CPUs at a rate well below end-market demand in recent quarters because customers have prioritized working through existing inventories of chips.

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Source Fool.com