HP who are a major supplier to JB Hi Fi and Harvey Norman have moved to minimise their exposure to the conflict between China and Taiwan with the US business scaling back their procurement management based in Taiwan, the move came as Chinese military operations circled the Island that China is claiming as their own.
The business who battles with Lenovo for the global #1 PC slot, transferred responsibility for procurement decisions to Singapore with recently hired U.S.-based executive Jonathan Jennings, now making key procurement decisions.
Taiwan has long been the core manufacturer of PC and components for PC’s.
Jennings will be responsible for price negotiations and procurement for many key semiconductors and electronic components as well as sourcing for major contract electronics manufacturers.
According to Nikki Asia, HP in October cut a couple dozen positions in Taiwan.
Taipei City’s Labor Department, which oversees HP’s Taipei-registered branch, on Tuesday said HP has around 1,000 employees in Taiwan, and the department was aware of the American company’s job cuts.
The company has previously said it plans to cut its global workforce by up to 12%, or 6,000 employees, in 2025 amid a corporate “transformation.”
Some of those job cuts are being made in Australia.
HP began accelerating its shift, first reported by Nikkei Asia, last year. The company, which is follow Dell in shifting away from Asia’s biggest economy, aims to have up to 70% of its total PC production outside of China and is setting up an alternative design hub in Singapore.
HP reported $13.5 billion in revenue for its third quarter, through July, up 2.4% from the year-earlier period. It is the world’s second-largest PC maker after China’s Lenovo, shipping around 52 million PCs a year.