Chief Executive Officer William Amelio predicted Tuesday that consolidation will happen “soon” in the global PC industry.
However, the head of the world’s fourth-largest computer manufacturer, which is based in Morrisville, declined comment on reports that Lenovo could buy the top PC maker in Brazil.
“With equity values down significantly, there will be consolidations in this industry,” Amelio said in Shanghai today, according to the news service Bloomberg.
Lenovo has stated publicly it wants to make acquisitions, but Acewr foiled its efforts to acquire Packard Bell in Europe. Acer, which is based in Taiwan, moved past Lenovo into the No. 3 PC maker position by acquiring U.S.-based Gateway. HP is No. 1, followed by Dell.
Amelio told Bloomberg he had “no news to share” about a possible deal for Positivo Informatica SA in Brazil. Media reports say Lenovo executives traveled to Brazil for meetings with Positivo on Dec. 6.
Dell may also be interested in Positivo, Bloomberg reported.
At a press conference, Amelio also said Lenovo might have to make further job cuts as the global economy slows.
"All ideas are on the table," he said when asked about possible layoffs and restructuring, according to Reuters.
Lenovo recently cut 50 jobs at its Morrisville headquarters.
The PC maker reported a sharp drop in earnings for the third quarter, and Amelio said the economy is getting worse, especially in China, where the company was born and is the market leader.
"In the course of the last several quarters, we saw first India slow down as a nation, then PC shipments as well, and Russia. Now China has slowed down significantly, and that has a big impact on our growth rate overall," Amelio said.
Lenovo, which recently launched a server business line, will expand its product lines and also focus on what Amelio called “emerging markets” for future growth, according to Channel News Asia.
"I see us having a bigger participation in the emerging markets and the growth that is in emerging markets,” Amelio said.
"I think you’ll see us migrate not just from PC client, but to workstations and servers across the spectrum of all countries, but really having a dominant focus on the emerging markets."
