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But as Dell's growth from these two markets slows, the company is searching for new engines to maintain its momentum. China's huge low-end consumer market is one of its top targets.

Dell said yesterday that seven out of 100 people in China own PCs, compared with two in 100 for India. About 25 million PCs were sold in China last year, four times the 6 million in India.

"The next big opportunity for PC makers are emerging markets like India and China, where most of the population still do not have PCs," said Simon Ye, an analyst at research firm Gartner.

"But I think Dell's problem is whether its successful direct sales business model can fit this new market where consumers are highly scattered and Internet access and phone services are not always available," he said.

In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year ended February 2, Dell's revenue reached $14.4 billion, an increase of 0.1 percent on the previous quarter, and a decline of 5.1 percent on 2005. Its revenue in China rose 26 percent in the quarter.

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