China’s Lenovo maintained its position as the world’s largest personal computer (PC) vendor in the first quarter of 2021 with a market share of 25.1%, as the company tightened its grip on its supply chains amid a global chip shortage, according to research firm Gartner.

In the first three months of the year, Lenovo shipped 17.5 million PCs, including desktops, laptops and ultramobile premiums, representing a year-on-year increase of 42.3%, the highest among the world’s top six sellers, according to Gartner.

The research firm also said that Lenovo grew faster than average in all key regions, with particularly strong year-on-year growth of 63.7% in the Asia Pacific region, as the company appeared to keep their supply chains under control with a higher percentage of its PCs being made in-house compared with other vendors.

HP, Dell, Apple, Acer and ASUS came in second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth with respective global market shares of 21.4%, 16.5%, 8%, 5.7% and 5.4%.

Overall, global PC shipments rose 32% year-on-year in the quarter to 69.9 million units, the highest growth rate Gartner has tracked since 2000.

“This growth should be viewed in the context of two unique factors: comparisons against a pandemic-constrained market and the current global semiconductor shortage,” said the firm’s research director Mikako Kitagawa.

“Without the shipment chaos in early 2020, this quarter’s growth may have been lower. However, semiconductor shortages are now adversely affecting the supply chain once again, with shipment lead times for some PCs extending to as long as four months.”

Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com)

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