TAIPEI -- Leading PC makers, including HP of the U.S. and Asus and Acer of Taiwan, are combating soaring component costs by shifting some production from Thailand and Vietnam back to China and using a new generation of contract manufacturers.

Multiple sources told Nikkei Asia that the PC makers are seeking greater manufacturing efficiency as their bill of materials rises, with demand from artificial intelligence causing acute memory and storage shortages. China remains the best option for making computers, with its experienced workforce, lower prices and a complete supply chain ecosystem that can offer full access to components.

The PC makers are turning to lesser-known Chinese contractors whose larger rivals have become increasingly occupied with higher-margin orders for AI data center servers. Dell of the U.S., the third-largest PC maker behind Lenovo and HP, is also evaluating a similar move, according to the sources.

"The move is really driven by cost pressures," said a chip industry executive whose company supplies all major PC makers. "Prices for not only memory chips but also other components have risen so sharply that PC makers are finding it increasingly difficult to absorb the hikes. They are shifting some production back to China and working with more Chinese contract manufacturers mainly because they can offer highly competitive pricing."

"They could move even more production back to China if the cost environment does not improve." The shift marks a partial reversal for now of the global tech supply chain's "China+1" diversification strategy, which moved some production from China to other Southeast Asian countries as U.S.-China tensions led to trade restrictions. Dell had been among the first PC makers to ask suppliers to avoid China-made components and aggressively shift production to Vietnam, as Nikkei Asia first reported in 2023. HP followed suit, setting a target of moving up to 70% of its production outside China. Now, explosive demand for AI infrastructure is reshaping the industry's priorities.

HP, Dell and Asus did not respond to Nikkei Asia requests for comment on their plans. A spokesperson for Acer said: "We dynamically adapt our supply chain operations to strengthen resilience and maintain competitiveness. Our strategy to work with multiple manufacturers and suppliers, and to stay dynamic, has been consistent over the years."

The global PC contract manufacturing industry has for decades been dominated by Taiwan's Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Inventec and Foxconn, key suppliers to Nvidia, Apple, HP and Dell. But as they have shifted to AI data center servers that provide greater revenue and growth opportunities, emerging Chinese contract manufacturers such as Luxshare, Huaqin Technology and Longcheer Technology have stepped in. Huaqin and Luxshare, already key contract smartphone assemblers, are also venturing into building servers for domestic Chinese needs.

Luxshare, a key iPhone assembler, has established LuxPC Union -- a PC design and manufacturing joint venture with Sixunited Group -- and has won orders from HP, Dell and Asus over the past year, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

"LuxPC was formed some two years ago, but in the past year, business turned very good with many new orders coming from leading global PC companies that wish to return to China from Southeast Asia for manufacturing," an executive with direct knowledge of LuxPC said.

In addition to efficient processes and a well-trained workforce, Chinese contract manufacturers can access domestically made memory chips at a time when PC makers are losing bargaining power to secure enough chips amid a global shortage.

"These Chinese contract manufacturers have been telling potential clients and computer makers that working with them could be a good option for securing better access to Chinese-made memory chips," a supply chain manager in the computer ecosystem told Nikkei Asia. "They are marketing themselves as a good alternative to even help sort out the supply chain." Representatives of emerging companies such as Huaqin and Longcheer have been targeting major PC makers, including HP, Asus and Acer, with more frequent visits this year, as their larger rivals are increasingly busy fulfilling orders for AI data center servers, two people with direct knowledge said.

An HP laptop, far right, is seen on display at the 2026 Computex show in Taipei. The U.S. PC maker is moving some production back to China from Vietnam and Thailand.

"For many of these Chinese players, the fact that most of their more advanced rivals are turning to AI servers is creating golden opportunities for them to grow," an executive from a supplier to HP, Dell, Asus and Lenovo told Nikkei Asia. "They are sending representatives to attract more internationally renowned PC makers to work with them, offering lower prices as they know all these players are now struggling with price hikes of various components."

China has long sought to upgrade its manufacturing industry by moving into higher-end electronics. The country already boasts a powerful smartphone ecosystem, accounting for nearly 60% of the global handset market with multiple competitive brands, such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Huawei and Transsion. It has a smaller presence in the PC industry, although its largest player, Lenovo, shipped one in four of the world's PCs in the third quarter, according to research firm Omdia. Non-Chinese companies, including HP, Dell, Apple, Asus, Samsung Electronics and Acer dominate the rest of the market.

"Prices of DRAM [memory chips] alone soared at least eight times higher in a year ... Not to mention costs of CPUs [central processing units], printed circuit boards and passive components are all climbing," said an executive with a gaming PC maker. "Since the tariff issues on PCs are being suspended, of course we are turning our eyes to make-in-China again," he added, referring to the exemption of PCs and laptops last year from steep U.S. tariffs.

Global PC shipments plunged 21% year on year in the July-to-September quarter, according to Omdia, which forecast a 24% drop for the fourth quarter as the squeeze on components persists.

The bill of materials for mainstream PCs defined as costing from $500 to $699 in the first quarter of 2025 was $435 at that time, but soared to $699 in the third quarter of 2026, Omdia reported, pushing up selling prices. Parts for entry models costing less than $500 surged from $275 to $471 over the same periods.

Counterpoint Research predicts a 27% drop in shipments in the fourth quarter and sees the market being broadly flat in 2027. "AI PCs, premium displays and differentiated products will create opportunities, but the winners will be those that combine innovation with competitive pricing, supply-chain discipline and compelling value for consumers and businesses," said senior analyst Minsoo Kang.

Taiwan's Acer has handed more procurement responsibilities to its Chinese contract manufacturers to source components, including processors and memory chips, as a "light touch" measure to ease in-house procurement burdens.

"In some cases, Chinese electronics manufacturers now have more say and control over which chips they are using in different PC models than those smaller PC makers such as Acer," said one executive at a chip developer supplying Acer, HP, Dell and others.

"HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus also followed suit and opened similar mid-to-entry level PC projects to let Chinese contract manufacturers shoulder more component procurement responsibilities," said another executive with a PC company. "By sharing this kind of critical responsibility with them, it helps the rise of Chinese contract manufacturers, especially those traditional second-tier Chinese suppliers like Weibu Information and Great Wall."

Southeast Asia will remain a strategic China+1 destination for the tech industry to ensure long-term supply chain resilience, according to Nikkei Asia interviews with multiple supply chain executives, as they did not think Washington-Beijing relations would improve significantly. However, back-and-forth production shifts between China and Southeast Asia would represent a teething problem for tech suppliers that have built new production lines outside China for their customers.

"We built two new production lines in Thailand for the PC clients and now they are moving substantial orders back to China ... Those two lines have not yet turned profitable and I don't know when they will add the orders back," said a manager at a PC keyboard component supplier.

"For those tech suppliers like Quanta and Foxconn, they have a lot of AI server orders to fulfill, so it is less impactful and they probably care less about losing orders in PCs ... but for smaller suppliers who have a smaller presence in AI, any changes could have a butterfly effect on them," said an executive with a top PC and smartphone component supplier.

Leading U.S. PC and laptop maker Dell is also evaluating moving some of its production back to China, industry sources told Nikkei Asia.

Ivan Lam, a supply-chain analyst at Counterpoint, said contract manufacturers themselves were responding to the effects of increased component costs in making their move into PCs.

"Chinese leading domestic smartphone [assemblers] have been greatly impacted by the memory price hike crisis, and they have been trying to increase revenues in other sectors; PCs are a good one, although making PCs does not gain them huge revenue or margins," he said. "Overall, we are not expecting PC makers to grow this year and next year, but Chinese mainland [contract manufacturers] can have more new model shipments starting next year." Lam added that China benefits from a well-established electronics components ecosystem that is difficult to replicate elsewhere.

"While CPUs, GPUs [graphics processing units] and memory sourced by major brands are typically supplied by leading global vendors, China's supply chain retains a distinct advantage in other components, including peripheral components and structural parts. This is an area where other regions have yet to match China's capabilities."