HP has lagged behind other computer manufacturers, including Apple and Dell, in moving away from China, but the company seems to have finally seen the light. HP is moving some of its consumer and commercial laptop production to Thailand and Mexico.
HP holds the #2 slot of PC makers by shipments after China’s Lenovo. The company plans to move some commercial notebook computer production to Mexico, a portion of consumer laptop production to Thailand, and will shift some laptop production to Vietnam starting next year.
HP seems to have reacted to Dell’s radical campaign to exclude “made in China” chips from its products and reduce its overall use of electronic components produced in the country.
Dell will make 20% of its laptops in Vietnam this year. It likely will take Dell until the end of 2024 to complete its planned shift away from “made in China” chips. Apple started making MacBooks in Vietnam this year, the first time its laptops were made outside China.
HP’s move would further help Vietnam and Thailand build a supply chain ecosystem for PCs, making Southeast Asia an even more attractive option for computer makers to mitigate risk.
The U.S. is the biggest single PC market for both HP and Dell, accounting for about 31% and 40% of their shipments in the first quarter of this year. Dell has a strong political incentive to diversify its production away from China, as it controls about 73% of the market for U.S. government-use PCs.
