Fujitsu is to end the sale of personal computers across Europe from April 2024 as the Japanese company looks to make changes to its business model.
A spokesperson confirmed in an email to TechRadar Pro that the manufacturer would be focusing on “building a business model that will make sustainability transformation the core business.”
The news comes amid plummeting PC sales globally. During the three months that ended on June 30, the world’s manufacturers shipped just over 62,000 PCs, down 11.5% from the 70,000 during the same period in 2022.
Fujitsu pulls consumer PCs from Europe
According to Canalys quarterly figures seen by TechRadar Pro, Fujitsu's overall PC market share fell from 1.81% in Q3 2019 to just 0.85% in Q2 2023, having gone from selling more than 1.27 million PCs to fewer than 530,000, representing a 53% drop in market share.
A Canalys spokesperson told us: "Based on this, Fujitsu's exit from Europe is not entirely surprising. Their market share, particular for desktops, has consistently declined for several years. Their exit won't have a considerable impact on Europe's PC market. Nonetheless, it is a big hit to Fujitsu. Europe was their largest market outside of Asia Pacific, making up 25% of their total PC shipments in 2022."
Consumers can currently place orders for the LifeBook series of laptops and the Esprimo series of tower PCs, while a family of Celsius workstations and mobile workstations round up the majority of the devices available.
Fujitsu told TechRadar Pro: “With this in focus and after careful consideration, Fujitsu intends to exit the Client Computing Devices (CCD) business in Europe. All existing support contracts around the CCD portfolio will be fulfilled and CCD products will be shipped until April 2024. Timelines and implementation are subject to employee consultation and local regulations.”
The firm also confirmed that “this decision is related to Europe only,” where it is expected to continue focusing on servers and storage.
Like other hardware manufacturers, Fujitsu has its eyes set on a new processor which could prove itself a powerful competitor for HPC uses, including in data centers and for AI workloads.
As well as a refreshed focus on sustainability, Fujitsu told us:
"At Fujitsu, our strategy is to drive sustainability transformation through digital innovation. To fulfill this strategy, Fujitsu has embarked on a comprehensive strategic shift to become a “DX company”, to support our customers’ digital transformation."
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