In the fourth quarter of 2002, PC shipments in the Asia and Pacific region totaled 6.8 million units, up 4 percent from the previous quarter or 15 percent from the same period of the previous year.

"Despite continued economic sluggishness and concerns of global instability in fourth quarter, the Asia and Pacific PC market grew steadily in almost all countries in the region," said Bryan Ma, personal systems research manager, IDC Asia/Pacific.

China's Legend was the leading vendor in 2002, followed by HP and IBM. Dell's 22 percent annual gain put the vendor into the fourth place spot for the year, while Samsung stayed in the Top 5 despite the fact that it was displaced by Founder in the last two quarters of the year.

In the fourth quarter, Legend shipped 903,225 units; HP, 597, 085 units; IBM, 430,841 units and Dell, 399,183 units, while Founder sold 307,841 units, compared with Samsung's 272,730 units.

IDC expects the Asia and Pacific PC market to grow 16 percent in 2003.

"Falling component prices, new technology introductions, and an expected increase in IT spending should help to continue this gradual growth in the upcoming quarters, although an uncertain sense of global security could also mute such expectations." said Ma.

But IDC warned that the recovery of Asia and Pacific region's PC market has been slow and the situation in the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea and Iraq could further hamper shipments, while corporate PC replacement demand has generally been limited.

(Shanghai Daily January 21, 2003)