Dell's China sales soared about 60 percent in the last year, making the country Dell's fourth-largest market behind the United States, Britain and Japan.

At the company's current growth rate, China should take the No. 3 spot from Japan in about three years.

PC sales in China rose 10.4 percent in 2003 to 13.3 million units, accounting for nearly half of all computers sold in the Asia Pacific region, Gartner has said.

For 2004, IDC forecasts that the market will grow about 19 percent, which would mean Dell's China sales would need to grow 57 percent or more..

Among the top five players in China, Dell posted the biggest year-on-year gains to take the No. 2 spot from Chinese computer maker Founder Electronics, which finished the year with a 6.2 percent market share compared with Dell's 6.8 percent.

Domestic giant Legend Group, which is in the process of changing its name to Lenovo, continued to dominate the market with 2.8 million units sold for a 21.3 percent share.

China outperformed Japan last year to become the world's second-largest PC market