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Toshiba cuts PC unit

by on18 September 2014

Margins too low

Toshiba is cutting its PC workforce by about 900 people and sales bases by more than half as part of its restructuring of its struggling consumer PC operations. The big idea is to focus on business clients rather than consumers who are still hanging on to their old machines.

Toshiba will withdraw from certain consumer markets but it would not specify which ones. It said it will cut its sales bases around the world from 32 to 13 during its 2014 fiscal year, which ends March 31. The outfit did not say which consumer models will survive the downsizing. Toshiba makes laptops such as the Portege, Kira and Satellite brands, including the first laptop with a 4K display, the P50T-BST2N01.

Toshiba will emphasise its profitable enterprise PC business and expand its offerings including workstations and tablets.

Under the outfit’s cunning plan business-to-business sales will have to grow to more than 50 percent of all sales in the company’s 2016 fiscal year. The company hopes to use its PC know-how in its IoT (Internet of Things) products and services in cloud, healthcare and home appliances.

Toshiba expects the PC restructuring will reduce fixed costs by more than $186 million. Toshiba’s share of PC shipments in the US grew to 6.1 percent in the April-June quarter, up from 5.4 percent a year earlier.

The company reported that PC sales had “improved significantly” in the April-June quarter, with brisk demand in Japan.

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