Supply Chain Reaction

Acer competed its acquisition of Gateway last week and announced positive Q3 results this week, leading inquiring minds to wonder what the hungry company’s next move will be.

According to the Taiwan-based PC OEM, the Gateway buy gives it between 11 percent and 12 percent PC market share, which will firmly place Acer above China-based Lenovo as the number three PC maker when Q4 rankings come out (assuming, of course, Lenovo doesn’t take a significant jump from its 8.2 percent share in the next two months). Acer also boasts that the Gateway buy doubled its U.S. market share, a weakening PC market, but still a key market for any company that truly wants to be a global PC player. (See "Acer’s 'Gateway’ to global PC supply chain” for more on that topic.)

Don’t expect Acer to cool its jets now that it has passed Lenovo. Dell should be very wary of this competitor in the PC supply chain. According to Acer’s Q3 presentation, it saw nearly 60 percent year-over-year unit growth, while ailing Dell saw a mere 3.8 percent. Dell also lost market share year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter to now control some 15 percent of the PC market. Considering Acer aggressively grew from 5.9 percent in Q3 2006 to 8.1 percent in Q3 2007, a climb toward Dell’s second place ranking in the near future isn’t out of the question expected.

What do you think? Share your thoughts on the PC supply chain below.