DIGITIMES surveyed the global top five notebook brands (excluding Apple) and the top three ODMs regarding their shipments in February 2025. With the notebook market remaining in its traditional off-season during February, compounded by the official implementation of a 10% tariff on Chinese goods initiated by the Trump administration, brand vendors and channel distributors continued in discussion on how to share the impact of these tariffs, leading to weak inventory buildup.
Since their channel inventory levels were already high, their shipments for the month went up only 7%, which was lower than the double-digit growth seen in the same period over the past two years (2023 and 2024). Compared to February 2024, the volumes only picked up slightly by around 2%.
Among the top five notebook brands in February, Acer performed the best with nearly a 30% month-on-month growth. This was primarily due to Acer's proactive order pull-ins in response to uncertainties surrounding US tariffs on China, as well as some orders being delayed from January to February due to production scheduling and material shortages.
