Taipei, Oct. 22, 2008 (CENS)--Thanks to its hot-selling Eee PC, Asustek Computer Inc., a world-caliber vendor of own-branded notebook PCs, optimistically projects its notebook PC shipment to hit 20 million units worldwide next year, well over 70% of 11.3 million units to be realized this year, according to Johnny Shih, chairman of Asustek.

Also, Shih noted that the global market for Netbook PCs is expected to grow rapidly in the near future, due mainly to increasing popularity of mobile communication in recent years. This enhances Asustek`s confidence towards rosy sales of its Eee PC next year.

Asustek ranks as between No. 5 and No. 7 brands of notebook PCs in the world this year, depending on market surveys by different institutes. However, if smoothly achieving its shipment projection of 20 million units, the brand is very likely to unseat Lenovo, Toshiba and Apple as world`s fourth-largest brand next year, only trailing HP, DELL and Acer.

Institutional investors indicated that since Asustek launched Eee PC at the end of last year, Netbook PCs have successfully captured attention of both notebook PC brands and consumers globally. Global sales of Netbook PCs are estimated at 30 million units next year, with Asustek to absorb between 8 million and 10 million units. In other words, Eee PC is expected mainly drive Asustek`s business operations.

Plus, Asustek has actively ventured into emerging markets, especially Russia, where the brand successfully led the segments for mother boards and graphic cards with a market share of 60% and 35-40%, respectively, in the second quarter of this year. In the same time, the brand almost tied Acer with a 25% share in Russia`s notebook PC market.

Gartner`s survey shows that Acer was the leading notebook PC brand in the Russian market in the second quarter, followed by Asustek, Toshiba, HP and DELL.

After realizing first-half shipment of 400,000 notebook PCs in the Russian market, Asustek aims to further push up the figure to 1.3 million for entire the year to command a 30% share of the market.

Global Market Share Rankings among NB PC Brands in Q2
Ranking	Brand	Sales Volume (Unit: 1 million units)	Market Share Rate
1	HP	66.35	21.1%
2	Acer	48.83	15.6%
3	DELL	47.95	15.3%
4	Toshiba	30.75	9.8%
5	Lenovo	25.31	8.1%
6	ASUS	21.25	6.8%
7	Apple	15.55	5.0%

Source: Gartner

(by Steve Chuang)