TAIWAN - The notebook PC industry in Taiwan hit a new record high for a single quarter, shipping slightly over 28 million notebook computers in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a report by Taiwan's International Data Corporation (IDC).

The number was an increase of 11.6% percent from the previous quarter with growth of 44% year-over-year. The report says that shipments were driven by rising market demand and holiday purchases.

Of the shipments, the report said that 88.5% were delivered by five of Taiwan's original design manufacturers: Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Wistron Corp., Inventec Corp. and ASUSTek Computer. Notebook production during the period was $15 billion, for a year-over-year increase of 31.6%, the report said.

IDC Taiwan research manager Helen Chiang said domestic notebook manufacturers performed better than expected because of brisk sales by the major manufacturers of consumer PCs.

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