After Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, giant {hardware} and software program firms started to go away the nation in a bid to not assist the bloody conflict in any means. Now that the world’s main PC makers don’t formally promote techniques in Russia, many finish customers have to purchase elements to restore or improve their present machines, in line with media studies.
Gross sales of PC elements for desktops and laptops elevated by two – 4 instances within the first 9 months of 2021 in Russia in comparison with the identical interval a yr in the past, studies Cnews (opens in new tab). Apparently, Russians are shopping for just about all PC elements they’ll set up themselves, together with graphics playing cards, processors, reminiscence, solid-state drives, onerous drives, motherboards, and PC chassis, in line with information from giant retailers like M.Video-Eldorado, Ozon, and Wildberries.
Whereas formal firms like Asus and Nvidia ceased to ship merchandise to Russia earlier this yr, their companions continued to chip their motherboards and graphics playing cards to the hostile nation, albeit not directly, they continued to capitalize on demand. Additionally, firms like Lenovo (and native gray field makers) benefited from Dell’s and HP’s choice to go away the Russian market.
One of many thrilling issues to notice about gross sales of pc elements in Russia is that whereas nearly all of them acquired costlier than they was, a few of them (e.g., graphics playing cards, SSDs) acquired a bit cheaper this yr regardless of robust demand and even shortages on some elements. Furthermore, because it seems, some suppliers elevated shipments of their elements to Russia.
One other important issue in regards to the Russian PC market is that official studies acquired considerably longer, which is probably one of many the reason why folks now want to purchase illegally imported elements and set up them themselves.
All-in-all, whereas many high-tech firms left Russia and not promote their merchandise within the nation, there are nonetheless people who capitalize on this market. After all, it’s onerous to inform whether or not these firms can fulfill 100% of the nation’s wants in PCs and pc elements, but it surely seems to be like one can nonetheless purchase new {hardware} within the nation, albeit at excessive costs.