Interview: Dell executive sees bright future in China market

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-06 14:50

SAN FRANCISCO: Dell Inc., one of the world's major personal computer (PC) makers, foresees a bright future in China, which is already the second largest market for the company, a Dell executive has said.

"China is expected to become the largest PC market in the world by 2015. Needless to say there are many opportunities to grow," Amit Midha, president of Dell China, told Xinhua in a recent written interview.

Eleven years after Dell entered China in 1998, the company has established a solid footprint and is enjoying strong growth in the market.

"Dell's China business has regularly outperformed the overall industry in China as well as our businesses in other parts of the world," Midha noted.

Last year, Dell increased its units shipped in China four times faster than the rest of the industry, has taken over the No. 1 position in servers with its highest share in recent history, he said.

"We continue to have great momentum within China's growing datacenters. Storage also is showing strong momentum as our EqualLogic business continues to grow in double digits on a sequential basis," added Midha.

Speaking to reporters in Hong Kong in October, Steve Schuckenbrock, president of large enterprise for Dell, said China was a "bright spot" for the company amid the information industry's slump.

All of Dell's businesses saw "relatively significant" growth in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2008, Schuckenbrock said.

Midha believed that in addition to Chinese government's stimulus spending, "our results owe more to investments we have made in China, as well as the region's overall appetite for information technology."

Last year, Dell spent $23 billion in China, becoming one of the largest purchasers of electronic equipment and goods in the country as well as one of the largest exporters.

"We expect that figure to grow significantly this year and for the trend to continue well into the future," Midha said.

Viewing the consumer business as a key area of its growth in the world's most populous country, Dell is also expanding deeper into the consumer retail sector with its products now available in more than 6,000 retail outlets across China.

During the past decade, China has evolved into a critical business opportunity for Dell and one that the company has looked to when introducing new solutions and capabilities for its global customer-base, Midha noted.

Looking ahead, he said new efforts taken by Dell such as moving into services are expected to facilitate the company's success and wellbeing in China in the long-run.

Dell announced this Tuesday that it has completed its offer of $3.9 billion to buy Perot Systems Corp., an information technology service provider. The acquisition has lead to the creation of a new global business unit called Dell Services.

With the strength Dell has developed in China in the last decade as well as the new capabilities the company obtained through the new acquisitions, "I believe we have a bright future for Dell in this part of the world," Midha said.