Every Copilot+ PC that arrives at an ITAD dock this year is potentially carrying something that didn’t exist on a corporate laptop two years ago: a dense, time-stamped archive of nearly everything that ever crossed the user’s screen.
. Deliverables for the month of April 2026
Secondary Market: Intel boosts margins by selling what it used to scrap
Intel’s Q1 non-GAAP gross margin came in at 41%, roughly 650 basis points above the company’s own guidance. Management attributed the beat to a combination of higher volumes, favorable mix, pricing, and better 18A yields. According to industry analyst Ben Bajarin, who posted on X following the earnings call, part of the lift came from yield salvage: selling marginal silicon, much of it edge-die that would normally be binned out or scrapped rather than shipped into a usable SKU. Intel is now capturing revenue from silicon that would previously have been written down or held in reserve.
Corporate Strategy: Paladin EnviroTech: Operating Thesis, Build Model, and Forward Outlook
This assessment focuses on Paladin as an operating structure in development. The objective is to determine what the company is attempting to build, how it is likely to behave during its formation phase, and what constraints will shape its progression.
Research: State of the Independent ITAD Operator in the United States
The US independent IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) sector is approaching a structural inflection unlike anything in its thirty-year history. What was for two decades a quietly growing services category dominated by founder-led regional operators has, in the past eighteen months, become a target for sophisticated institutional capital, a strategic priority for global conglomerates, and — most consequentially — a function that enterprise buyers are finally beginning to treat as a governance discipline rather than a disposal cost.
Corporate News: Peters-Michaud named CEO, Houghton chair of Sage Sustainable Electronics
Sage Sustainable Electronics, the Closed Loop Partners–backed IT asset disposition (ITAD) company that has rolled up two competitors in the past 18 months, announced a slate of executive changes this week aimed at scaling its electronics circularity platform through a new three-year growth plan.
New Tech: Can modular metals recovery challenge the smelter model?
A UK-based startup is testing a different approach to extracting metals from electronic scrap, one that could influence how downstream recovery fits into the IT asset disposition and recycling chain.
Markets/Corporate: What Intel’s blockbuster quarter means for ITAD
Intel’s first-quarter 2026 earnings report landed with a force few on Wall Street anticipated. Revenue came in at $13.58 billion against expectations of $12.42 billion. Adjusted earnings per share reached $0.29, versus a consensus estimate of just $0.01. The stock briefly hit an all-time high in after-hours trading, surpassing its dot-com era peak. For a company that had spent the better part of two years in restructuring mode, it was a remarkable reversal.
Markets: The whitebox blind spot in PC recycling
There’s a growing segment of the PC market that doesn’t show up in shipment data and in market share reports, and reaches none of the channels ITAD and recycling professionals are built to serve. After tracking this industry for decades, I’ve watched it go from a...
Markets: PC shipments grew in Q1, but questions remain
Two closely watched PC market reports released in April painted what looked like an encouraging picture for the device market, and by extension, the downstream ITAD and recycling channels that process those devices at end of life. Both Gartner and IDC reported year-over-year shipment growth in the first quarter of 2026.
The PC Market’s “Memflation” Moment: Why Q1 Shipment Growth Is a Mirage
PC shipment data from Gartner and IDC suggests a healthy market on the surface, but both firms warn that Q1 2026 growth is being driven by inventory build, rising memory costs, and Windows 10 migration rather than real demand.
For ITAD and recycling executives, memflation is likely to boost residual values for Windows 11-capable enterprise fleets even as a large cohort of non-upgradeable Windows 10 devices tilts toward materials recovery, while shifting vendor share, growing Apple volumes, and geopolitical freight shocks force a rethink of pricing, logistics, and Apple-specific capabilities over the next 18–36 months.
Analyst Opinion: The independent ITAD at a crossroads
The US independent ITAD sector is entering a decisive phase that few participants are fully seeing. What appears as scattered activity—rising M&A interest, private equity engagement, and early succession discussions among founder-led firms—is in fact a single structural shift.
Client Note: HPE Downgrade Highlights Demand Fragility and Uneven AI Monetization
In our latest client note, we connect data from HPE’s downgrade, Morgan Stanley’s sector-wide hardware warning, and HPE’s own earnings disclosures to five specific operational implications for End-Of-Life service providers, including why linear volume planning is now a liability, where residual value assumptions need to be revised downward, and what phased decommissioning means for how services are structured going forward.
Markets: Less premium smartphone inventory is reaching recyclers
Assurant’s latest mobile trade-in data shows that the best smartphones are being pulled into reuse and refurbishment channels sooner as the scrap stream is getting thinner and rougher, and value is moving upstream fast.
General: Bloom ESG and e-Stewards roll out critical metals metric
Bloom ESG and e-Stewards have added a critical metals conservation metric to their jointly developed Environmental Benefits Calculator. Electronics recyclers and ITAD providers can now quantify recovered cobalt, lithium and rare earth elements at the order level.
Markets: Wearables are coming and ITAD isn’t ready
Over 600 million wearables shipped last year, representing the equivalent of smartphone-scale volume. And unlike phones, these devices are about to hit the disposition intake streams in waves. Available data suggests that the timeline is tight.
Critical Minerals: Tungsten scrap export controls draw industry attention
A coalition of industries and businesses that rely on tungsten is urging the U.S. Department of Commerce to consider export controls on tungsten scrap, arguing that tighter oversight could help preserve domestic supply for manufacturers and defense users.