India's Redington sees AI-enabled PCs powering tech upgrades

India's Redington expects demand for personal computers to bounce back next financial year as customers are likely to warm up to new devices with artificial intelligence features, a top executive at the tech goods distributor said.

Global PC sales are showing signs of recovery after inflation-hit customers delayed system upgrades for several quarters, results of chipmakers including Samsung Electronics and Intel showed.

"The advent of AI, PCs will also drive tech refresh," Redington's Singapore, India and South Asia (SISA) CEO Ramesh Natarajan told Reuters, adding that he sees its PC business posting a single-digit percentage growth in fiscal 2025 in the region after reporting declines in the last six quarters.

AI-enabled PCs refer to machines that come with chips capable of running large-language models and apps powered by the technology directly on the device, instead of the cloud.

"Considering the replacement cycles for PCs have averaged around three to four years, we believe 2024 will be the year that will see some rebound," said Neil Shah, vice president of research at Counterpoint Research.

SISA revenue from Redington's end-point solutions unit, which distributes PCs and printers, fell 7% to 100.72 billion rupees ($1.21 billion) in the nine months ended Dec. 31.

The segment, which accounts for about 15% of the group's total revenue, had gained during the pandemic when businesses and individuals spent heavily to set up home offices. But many are yet to upgrade.

Natarajan also expects more growth in Redington's mobile phone business, which distributes smartphones from Apple, Google and others, as affluent Indians splurge on phones that cost more than 30,000 rupees ($361.30). The segment had seen a 61% revenue jump in the first nine months of fiscal 2024 in the SISA region.

Redington has been sharpening its focus on its cloud services business to expand beyond gadget distribution, which brings in a bulk of its revenue.