U.S. Notebook PC Sales Surpass Desktop PC Sales in May -- For the first time in U.S. history, retail sales of notebook computers surpassed those of desktops in May, according to research firm Current Analysis. Notebook sales grew from 45.9 percent of the total PC retail market in May 2004 to 53.3 percent of last month. "The past few months have seen an increase in the number of retail notebook players, with lesser-known value players Acer and Medion gaining shelf space at major retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City and CompUSA," said analyst Sam Bhavnani. "In addition, notebook pricing has dropped considerably." Prices, in fact, have fallen an average of 17 percent over the past year. The firm said that notebooks nearly topped desktops in August 2004, on the strength of intense back�to-school advertising by Toshiba.
The global semiconductor industry is experiencing a historic acceleration driven by surging investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and computing power. According to the latest IDC worldwide market study, 2025 marks a defining year in which AI's pervasive impact reconfigures industry economics and propels record growth across the compute segment of the semiconductor market. Semiconductor Market Development IDC’s latest data reveals an insightful projection: The compute segment of the semiconductor market is on track to grow 36 percent in 2025, reaching $349 billion. This segment, which encompasses logic chips powering CPUs, GPUs, and AI accelerators, will sustain a robust 12 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2030. These numbers underscore not only current momentum but a structural shift driven by large-scale adoption of AI workloads spanning cloud, edge, and on-premises deployment models. The scale of investment is unprecedented. As organizations ...