iSuppli Nudges 2004 PC Forecast Upward

Market researcher iSuppli Corp. said Monday that it had slightly increased its PC forecast for 2004, although it had adjusted projected revenue lower due to declining ASPs.

El Segundo, Calif.-based iSupplis new PC forecast predicts that worldwide PC shipments will rise to 191.4 million units in 2004, up 13.4 percent from 168.8 million in 2003, and that revenue will increase 12 percent to $132.8 billion, versus $118.6 billion in 2003. The firm issued its report in late September but made the results public Monday.

The firm also said it now believes unit sales of servers will increase by 16.6 percent to 60 million units, and that revenue in the segment is now expected to grow by 7 percent to $42.4 billion.

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The research firm said the industry had moved through a bump in notebook supply during the first and second quarters that had caused notebook ODMs in Taiwan to scale back their purchases. That problem has since been fixed, iSuppli reported.

But the firm said it remains worried about the demand for Intels high-end 9XX chip sets, and the high prices they command. That concern will limit the PC industrys revenue during the holiday selling season, iSuppli said.

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