Although the world is dependent on personal computers, making them has not been a great business for most American companies for almost a decade.Hewlett-Packard's announcement that it was considering offloading its PC business, even though it is the undisputed worldwide market leader, is a sign of the difficulties.

If HP goes through with the idea, it would follow IBM which was one of the first to recognise the long-term problems and, in 2005, sold its business to Lenovo, a Chinese company. Other American makers like Compaq (acquired by HP), Gateway and Packard Bell were absorbed by others or just faded away. Depending on how HP sheds the unit - it could sell or spin it off as a separate company - only two American PC makers would remain.

Source:

New York Times