Lenovo overtakes Hewlett-Packard as top PC maker

China’s Lenovo (0992.HKG, LHL.FRA) has overtaken Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.NYSE, HWP.FRA) as the world’s largest personal-computer maker, Bloomberg reported. The company’s accounted for 15.7% of shipments last quarter, ahead of the former No. 1 at 15.5%. The figures come from market research firm Gartner (IT.NYSE, GGRA.FRA), while IDC (IDC.NYSE) still tracked Hewlett-Packard as the top producer. The 73-year-old US company had held the lead since 2006 but was hard hit by the US economic slump, as well as a shift from PC to mobile devices such as tablets. Brent Bracelin, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities put Lenovo’s gains down to quickly growing markets in developing countries. “Lenovo has been a beneficiary because of some of the acquisitions it’s made and its relatively high exposure to emerging markets, which are outperforming developed markets.” Global PC shipments fell to 87.5 million last quarter, down 8.3% according to Gartner. The previous decade consistently experienced double-digit growth in the market.