BEIJING, March 21 -- Dell Inc's company founder Michael Dell says the booming Asian market is maintaining his company's confidence in the growth of its business despite the recent American subprime mortgage crisis.

    As it penetrates the Chinese market, the world's No. 2 personal computer maker will increase its procurement value in China by 28 percent this year to 23 billion U.S. dollars and will sign a second retail partner for the domestic market.

    The demand in the Asian market is rocketing and the European market is growing better (compared to the U.S.), said Dell, the company's chief executive and chairman, on a visit to Beijing.

    "Dell China is a fantastic contributor to the company's income and we are happy to see the shipment growth rate here is three times the industry average," Dell said during a ceremony to celebrate the company's 10-year anniversary of entering China.

    In the fourth quarter, Dell China's sales jumped 54 percent year-on-year, compared with 41 percent for Dell's Asian sales and 20 percent for the domestic growth rate.

    Dell, who said he expects the U.S. economy will recover, said the company is a globally-balanced firm with its shipments outside of the U.S. market increasing more than 10 times over the past ten years.

    Dell used to depend highly on enterprise-oriented PC orders from Fortune 500 firms, which were sensitive to economic fluctuations, industry insiders said.

    The company will use several methods to maintain its growth, including focusing on retail expansion in emerging markets and consumer businesses where arch rival Hewlett-Packard is strong, Dell said.

    Dell plans to launch a laptop series Dell 500 with mobility, wireless and multimedia functions at an affordable price. The series is designed for small and medium-sized firms in emerging markets including China and India.

    "We will continue retail expansion through the world to target more consumers," Dell said.

    Dell, which focused on an online and phone sales model, started to sell products in retail stores last year, in cooperation with Best Buy and Wal-Mart. In China, Dell sells products in 500 Gome stores after announcing a cooperation agreement with the country's No. 1 home appliance chain store five months ago.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)