TOKYO -- Toshiba Corporation today announced another record-breaking achievement in the portable PC business, as it became the first company to record cumulative shipments of 10 million portable PCs to the world market. This latest accomplishment, reached at the end of last month, adds to a string of successes dating back to 1985, when Toshiba launched the world's first laptop and created the portable market. Since then, Toshiba has lead the way in developing innovative new products and introducing key components and technologies.

Toshiba took computers off the desktop and turned them into mobile productivity tools in 1985, with the launch of the T1100 in Europe. The company followed up its immediate success with the 1986 launch of the T3100 series in Europe and the US and the J-3100 series in Japan. The capabilities and popular appeal of these PCs soon earned Toshiba the title of 'King of Laptop' and wide recognition as the brand leader in the growing portable market.

The 1989 launch of the Dynabook series of notebook computers in Japan saw Toshiba take the portable PC to new levels of power combined with miniaturization. Supported by Toshiba's in-house technical innovations, including state-of-the-art 2.5-inch HDDs, LCD panels, EL back lights, color TFT-LCD panels, nickel metal-hydride batteries and lithium-ion batteries, these notebook computers, and their overseas versions for the world market, have brought users around the world to new levels of go-anywhere computing capabilities, and contributed to the development of a vibrant and fast growing market.

Toshiba continues to set the standard of excellence in this market. Last year, yet another round of industry-shaping innovations saw the creation of the Libretto series of mini-notebook PCs, which offers the versatility and capabilities of the Windows OS and software in a computer that slips into the pocket. This commitment to advanced PCs in a portfolio designed to meet all needs and appeal to all pockets has assured Toshiba's continued leadership in portable PC sales. By May 1995, cumulative worldwide sales had reached 5 million PCs. Now, less than two and a half years later, the figure has soared to 10 million.

Underpinning this rapid growth is the constant development and redevelopment of the key enabling technologies for portable PCs. Toshiba both works with other leading manufacturers, and has world-class capabilities in semiconductors, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and storage media. The company's in-house development of such major technologies as core logic devices (chipsets), high density surface-mounting technology, heat dissipation technology, power consumption reduction technology, and advanced mass production technologies play a key role in allowing Toshiba to commercialize products ahead of its competitors.

This prowess has made Toshiba the partner of choice for other industry leaders seeking to develop the technologies and products that will make tomorrow's computers more powerful and easier to use than today's. Working with Microsoft and Intel, Toshiba, through the Toshiba Engineering Center Seattle (TECS) in Washington, US, is now contributing to development of a next-generation OS that will offer advanced plug-and-play and power management system.

Toshiba's international PC sales network is supported by an international manufacturing network with facilities in Ome, Japan, Irvine California and Regensburg, Germany manufacture PCs, while Toshiba Information Equipment (Philippines), Inc. acts a global manufacturing base for optical disc drives, PC motherboards, and 2.5-inch HDDs.

Toshiba is now building on its unrivaled success and reputation in portable PCs to enter into the desktop PC market. The company launched its first products in the U.S. last year, and intends to expand its operations to include servers in 1998. By the end of the century, Toshiba will be positioned as a total system solution provider in the global market. As it achieves this, the company will continue to build on its winning record in portable PCs, and work toward becoming the first company to ship 20 million units.