China set to surpass Japan as top PC market

HONG KONG: With their economies moving in opposite directions, China is set

to overtake Japan as Asia's biggest market for personal computer sales in 2003,

research firm International Data Corp said on Wednesday.

Kitty Fok, hardware analyst at IDC in Hong Kong, said China was on track for

sales of 13.2 million PCs in 2003, compared with a forecast 12.7 million unit

sales in Japan.

Leapfrogging Japan would make China the world's second-biggest PC market

after the United States. For 2001, China is expected to have moved 8.9 million

PCs, increasing to 10.8 million in 2002, Fok told Reuters.

Recession-wracked Japan is expected to have seen 13.3 million PC sales in

2001, with a forecast drop to 11.7 million in 2002 before a recovery in 2003,

IDC said.

"The market is pretty bad at the moment," Fok said of Japan, while

demand continues to grow in China.

Top mainland PC maker Legend Holdings Inc enjoyed a 31 per cent market share

on its home turf during the first three quarters of 2001, IDC said.

(C) Reuters Limited.