Japan's PC makers to boost global notebook shipments: report

TOKYO (AFP) Jul 27, 2003
Japan's top four makers of personal computers are ready to boost their combined global shipments of notebooks to a new high, taking back slices of the market from foreign rivals, a press report said Sunday.

The four firms, led by Toshiba Corp., plan to ship a combined total of 9.79 million notebook PC units in the year to March 2004, up 10 percent from the previous year, the business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

As notebook PC demand is heating up in the United States and is set to recover in Japan, the four firms aim to focus on high-performance products with enhanced audio-visual and networking functions, the report said.

Combined shipment volume rebounded to a record high in the year to March 2003 after a 5.6 percent fall during the previous year, the report said.

Toshiba, the maker of the Dynabook series, plans to raise its global notebook PC shipments by 14 percent to 4.5 million units in the year to March

Fujitsu Ltd. intends to expand notebook PC shipments by 17 percent to 1.95 million units while NEC Corp. is targetting an 8 percent increase. Sony Corp's output is estimated to be almost flat from a year ago, the report said.

To reach its output goals, Toshiba started up one of the world's largest notebook PC plants in Hangzhou, China, in April.

The plant is expected to produce 750,000 notebook PCs in the year to March 2004 and 2.4 million units the following year.

Toshiba, which was toppled by Dell Computer of the United States as the world's biggest notebook PC producer in 2001, is battling again for the top spot with Dell and another American computer giant, Hewlett-Packard.

Fujitsu is building up its notebook PC production capacity at a domestic affiliate while NEC is increasing output of its products by a Taiwan-affiliated PC maker, which produces computers in China on order from outside firms, the report said.

Shipments of notebook PCs exceeded those of desktop PCs in Japan for the first time last year.

Demand for notebook PCs has been fueled recently by their improved performances brought about by larger screens and more powerful microprocessors, the report said.

It added that technology allowing them to be linked wirelessly to the Internet has also been a factor behind their growing popularity.

SPACE.WIRE