An ordinary laptop used to be the kind of purchase you could put off until the old one finally gave up.
I recently discussed this in my story, Intel CEO reveals a PC problem as Goldman cuts stock target, in which I shared how my friends struggled to choose new PCs due to soaring prices.
Moreover, the tech punditry says the problem goes deeper than a few disappointing deals.
Now, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su has delivered a similar warning on November 3, echoing Intel (INTC) CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s concerns about a difficult year ahead for the PC market in 2027.
Most of that pressure’s coming from memory prices, but interestingly, AMD itself posted record quarterly sales, largely driven by booming server-chip sales.
That raises the question, though: how can the same technology boom enrich chipmakers while making everyday computers harder to buy?
AMD CEO Lisa Su sees a double-digit PC market decline in 2027
AMD CEO Lisa Su isn’t counting on a PC sales recovery next year. Instead, she’s preparing for another decline.
“Our planning assumption for 2027 is that the market will be double-digit percentage down,” Su told analysts on November 3 at the company’s earnings call.
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Her explanation goes directly to the checkout counter.
“Our view is this is one of those times when component prices go up, it affects overall system pricing,” she said, adding that price-sensitive consumers have already slowed their purchases.
Gartner estimates worldwide PC shipments sank 22.4% in Q3 to 55.4 million units, as expensive memory and storage pushed lower-cost computers out of reach.
And AMD isn’t alone in sounding the alarm.
As I recently covered, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan raised the same concern on October 29.
“In recent weeks, our customers began signaling a PC slowdown based on the memory prices and availability,” Tan said.
Intel CFO David Zinsner put numbers behind that warning, with the company expecting PC unit shipments to decline by about 10% in 2027, following a projected 12% decline this year.
TrendForce sees pressure too, though its forecast is less severe. It predicts notebook shipments will decline by a low-single-digit percentage next year, potentially worsening to a high-single-digit percentage if component inflation persists.
Su says AMD will target premium laptops, desktops, and corporate customers to outperform the industry. Which raises a question: Why are ordinary PCs becoming harder to sell when demand for computing power is exploding in data centers?
The AI memory boom is creating a costly problem for PC buyers
The AI boom is creating an expensive problem for people who just need a laptop.
Memory makers are prioritizing high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, for AI servers. That pulls manufacturing capacity away from conventional DRAM used in PCs, tightening supply just as computer makers need affordable components.
Micron executive Sumit Sadana described it in August as a “3:1 trade ratio”: producing 100 bits of HBM3E effectively displaces about 300 bits of DDR memory capacity as reported by Seeking Alpha. Newer HBM generations could make that trade-off even steeper.
The costs are showing up in laptops.
TrendForce examined a mainstream notebook priced at $900 in early 2025. Back then, its processor, DRAM, and storage accounted for 45% of component costs. By the third quarter of 2026, that share had jumped to 68%.
Moreover, Gartner projects PC prices will rise 17% in 2026. That’s painful for families already struggling with sticky inflation that’s eroding their purchasing power.
That said, notebook brands face three difficult choices.
They could potentially charge customers more, accept thinner margins, or cut specifications, such as memory capacity. Additionally, the relief may be uneven. TrendForce expects PC DRAM supplies to remain tight in 2027 as AI servers absorb capacity, although NAND flash shortages could ease later in the year.
For many households, keeping an old laptop another year may feel like the only sensible move. And every postponed upgrade makes the industry’s shipment slump harder to reverse.
What the PC downturn means for AMD stock in 2027
AMD’s earnings show why Lisa Su can warn about PCs without sounding alarmed about the company’s future.
Q3 sales hit a record $13.38 billion, up 45%, while adjusted earnings reached $2.09 per share. Data-center sales surged 97%, even as PC processor revenue slipped 4% from the previous quarter.
The pressure isn’t over. AMD expects its combined client and gaming business, which includes more than just PCs, to decline by more than 20% sequentially in Q4.
Su’s strategy involves focusing on premium Ryzen laptops, business customers, and desktops, while shifting flexible chipmaking capacity toward stronger markets.
More importantly, AMD expects overall revenue to grow over 80% in 2027, with data centers contributing more than four-fifths of sales.
Investors liked that forecast. AMD jumped 7.3% in early November 4 premarket trading. But at roughly 31 times forward earnings, its valuation leaves little room for product delays, supply shortages, or weaker AI demand.
The contradiction investors must weigh is that households are postponing computer upgrades while technology giants are buying up enough computing power to remake AMD’s business.
The question is whether that growth can justify the stock’s premium.
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