Lenovo unseats HP as world's top PC supplier

Lenovo overtook Hewlett-Packard in the third quarter to become the world's largest supplier of personal computers, defying a worsening slump in the industry.

Preliminary estimates released by market research firm Gartner yesterday showed Lenovo seized a 15.7 per cent global market share on personal computer shipments of 13.77 million units last quarter, which edged out HP's 15.5 per cent share at 13.55 million units.

That was a record in terms of market share and quarterly shipment volume for Hong Kong-listed Lenovo, which started its worldwide expansion by buying the personal computer division of International Business Machines for US$1.75 billion in 2005.

But estimates from technology analyst firm IDC showed HP, which has been the leader since the third quarter of 2006, clung to its top ranking with a 15.9 per cent market share last quarter against Lenovo's 15.7 per cent.

Unlike Gartner, IDC includes workstations - high-performance personal computers designed for engineering, software development and scientific applications - to calculate quarterly unit shipments.

The difference in findings by Gartner and IDC was dismissed by Lenovo chief executive Yang Yuanqing, who said the firm's ultimate goal was to be "one of the most respected companies in the world".