After several years of market stagnation, the enterprise PC market has suddenly come to life. As of early 2026, the industry is coming off a banner year, with worldwide PC shipments increasing by 9.1% to 9.3% in 2025 according to latest data from Gartner.
This does not appear to be a blip; this market turnaround looks to be a fundamental shift driven by a confluence of events including software deadlines, the rise of artificial intelligence, and the resurgence of component pricing and supply, namely for PC memory.
1. End of Windows 10 Support
In our estimation, the single biggest factor driving the fundamental shift in the enterprise PC market is the end of support deadline for Windows 10. This hard deadline necessitated enterprises to refresh devices to Windows 11-compatible devices to maintain security and support.
2. The Rise of the AI PC
While the sunset of Windows 10 support provided urgency, AI-hardware provided the fuel for the rocket. Consider the following:
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Market Penetration: According to Gartner, AI-configured PCs accounted for an estimated 31% of all shipments in 2025, up from just 15% in 2024.
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AI Priority: For many enterprises, it’s no longer a question as to whether PCs configured for AI technology are needed but which configurations are needed.
3. Memory Pricing and Supply Constraints
AI technology is a very large consumer of memory. According to TrendForce’s latest memory industry survey, persistent AI and data center demands in 1Q26 are further worsening the global memory supply and demand imbalance. As a result, TrendForce has significantly raised its 1Q26 price forecasts for both DRAM and NAND Flash products. The quarter-over-quarter increase in conventional DRAM contract prices has been revised upward, from a previous estimate of 55–60% to now 90–95%. Similarly, NAND Flash contract prices are now expected to rise from 33–38% to 55–60%.
Figure 1. Price trends for DDR5-4800 2x16GB (Average price in USD over last 18 months)
Source: PCPartPicker.com
Procurement Approaches.
Enterprise IT procurement and category managers are not completely at the mercy of the key PC suppliers (HP, Lenovo and Dell). We recommend that IT category managers consider the following approaches:
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Most PC contracts have a clause for adjustments due to significant events with appropriate warning. Know the terms and conditions of your current contracts with respect to these clauses and ensure they are followed. If you don’t have this clause, then negotiate this in.
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Insist on quarterly meetings with the PC OEM to understand hardware roadmap, supply chain plans and forecasted demands.
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Frequent communications with enterprise business units to understand purchase plans. Leverage large purchases with the PC OEM to drive better pricing.
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Ensure that current PC configurations are indeed sufficient. Many times, PCs can be “overengineered” leading to more expensive component pricing. Gartner indicates that 16 GB of memory and 512 GB of storage are more than adequate for typical, enterprise-grade PCs.
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Tie memory prices to changes in indices. TrendForce and other memory market analysts provide frequent updates and information on the movement of contract and spot memory prices. Take the approach “trust but verify” with your PC OEM.
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Shop PC requirements among the key OEMs. We have seen that certain OEMs have tried to pass along egregious price increases on PCs using the memory market challenges as a guise.
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For the medium term, consider stocking PCs to alleviate additional price shocks and supply shortages.
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For the longer term, consult with IT partners to look at alternative PC delivery methods such as Desktop as a Service, PC as a Service, and VDI.
Tariff Impacts
On February 20th, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Trump Administration exceeded its authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). This law was used by the Administration to levy tariffs on products from hundreds of countries entering the United States. We feel that tariffs in general have not had a material impact on PC pricing and now with the Supreme Court’s ruling, we feel that there will be no material impact on PC pricing in the immediate future. Uncertainty remains, though, on tariffs as the Trump Administration is looking to levy additional tariffs under other statues. As of now, however, we feel that this tariff uncertainty will not materially impact PC pricing.
The Bottom Line
The PC is not going anywhere. This hardware remains the bedrock of the enterprise. What we do see is that the PC is being redefined from a “worker” type of device to more of a high-performance, AI-capable device. IT category managers and practitioners need to think more strategically about how to source, negotiate and procure PC devices in this new world. Applying a strategic approach to this category will help IT category managers to minimize the impact of supply and price shocks to the enterprise.
Reach out to us today to discuss how we can help your enterprise through this change in the market. Our global IT category managers and procurement strategy consultants are current and former category practitioners with decades of experience navigating these market challenges.