Toshiba Corp. plans to halt production of desktop personal computers for home users in an attempt to beef up its notebook computer business, company sources said.
Toshiba, one of the world's largest notebook computer manufacturers, will continue to produce desktop PCs for business users, the sources said Friday.
The development follows a similar move by Mitsubishi Electric Corp., and is the latest in a series of major consumer electronics companies' reviews of their PC business. Toshiba expects group net profits for the business year that ended March 31 to slide 85 percent from a year earlier in the wake of weak consumer spending.
Toshiba has boosted production of PCs, mainly notebook versions, within and outside of Japan over the past few years, making 1.43 million units in fiscal 1995, 2.7 million units in fiscal 1996 and 3 million units in fiscal 1997.
Toshiba mainly sells desktop PCs to corporate users as demand for desktop PCs from personal users has been slack, pushing the total ratio of desktop PCs down to about 20 percent in fiscal 1997 from some 30 percent in fiscal 1996.