Domestic shipments of personal computers surged 32.1 percent in 2000 from the previous year to an all-time high of 13.24 million units, MultiMedia Research Institute Inc. said Wednesday.
Despite slowing from last summer, retail sales still jumped 41.6 percent and sales to companies rose 24.6 percent.
Despite the steep rise in shipments, annual growth of the total value of domestic shipments came to only 13.4 percent, some 2.314 trillion yen, due to price falls, according to the private think tank.
Notebook PCs accounted for 6.66 million units, surpassing the 6.58 million desktops.
The top three firms in terms of market share were the same as in 1999, with NEC Corp. holding 24.1 percent, Fujitsu Ltd. 20.4 percent and IBM Japan Ltd. 8.8 percent. Sony Corp., whose share grew to 6.9 percent thanks to retail sales, advanced to fourth place from sixth in 1999, it said.
The institute said it expects domestic shipments of PCs this year to expand 21 percent from 2000 to 16 million units.