Samsung: No, Really, We're Not Buying HP's PC Business

A day after dismissing reports that it's interested in buying HP's PC business, Samsung Electronics on Thursday issued a more forceful denial -- along with a sprinkling of the rationale behind it.

"To put to rest any speculation on this issue, I would like to definitively state that Samsung Electronics will not acquire Hewlett-Packard's PC Business," Geosung Choi, vice chairman and CEO of Samsung, said in a statement.

To support his position, Choi noted that HP is the world's largest PC maker and sold 40 million units last year, while Samsung sold around 10 million units last year and is an "emerging player" in the PC market.

"Based on the significant disparity in scale with Samsung's own PC business and the complete lack of synergies, it would be both infeasible and imprudent to even consider such an acquisition," Choi said in the statement.

The Samsung-HP rumors began spreading after Digitimes reported on Tuesday that Samsung has recently met with several Taiwan-based notebook PC makers as a possible prelude to an acquisition of HP's PSG business.

Samsung has reportedly held discussions with HP about licensing WebOS, but the company hasn't mentioned WebOS in any of its HP PC business denials. A Samsung spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment on whether Samsung is looking to acquiring or licensing WebOS.

HP last week deep-sixed its TouchPad tablet and revealed that it's considering a spin-off or sale of its Personal Systems Group.

Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell jumped at the opportunity to reaffirm his view that the so-called demise of the PC has been greatly exaggerated. "Goodbye HP. Sorry you don't want to be in PCs anymore. But we do more than ever," Dell tweeted last Thursday.

Meanwhile, HP executives have been emphatically denying that HP has any intention of quitting the PC business.

Earlier this week Todd Bradley, executive vice president of PSG, lashed out against Dell for its intimations to this effect, declaring that HP has "pounded" Dell in the PC market over the last six years and imploring HP channel partners not to listen to the fear, uncertainty and doubt being spread by Dell and other HP foes.