Microsoft, HP and Dell rushed to stock up on Chinese PC components before they went up in price

The change of power in the United States by January next year creates not the most optimistic expectations for PC market participants, since US President Donald Trump, elected this month, threatens to greatly increase import duties on electronics of Chinese origin. PC manufacturers are trying to purchase as many components as possible at current prices before January.

Image source: Microsoft

As Nikkei notes, citing its own sources, Microsoft asked suppliers to prepare more components for their server systems in the period from November to December in order to sell products for some time, the cost of which will not be affected by a likely increase in customs tariffs. The corporation also requires its partners to transfer the maximum share of operations for assembling Xbox game consoles and Surface laptops outside of China by the end of next year.

Dell and HP Inc. They are also accelerating the purchase of components and laptops from their suppliers this year, and next year they expect to diversify their production bases geographically so as to be less dependent on Chinese enterprises. Component suppliers are preparing to move their production lines outside of China to reduce the impact of US import tariffs on their businesses. As Trump’s first term has shown, increasing tariffs on Chinese goods is his weapon of choice in combating China’s growing economic influence and concentration of manufacturing capacity in that country.