TAIPEI: Computer makers are expected to showcase the latest of their lines of low-cost PCs in the Taipei computer trade fair -- the biggest computer show in Asia -- when it opens this week.

Most of those on display at the five-day trade fair, also known as Computex Taipei beginning Tuesday, carry price tags of less than 500 US dollars.

"Initially, low-cost PCs were designed for poor children in emerging markets," said Jane Tseng of the Topology Research Institute, a private think-tank in Taipei.

"However, PC vendors found demand also from developed countries which they had not previously targeted," she said.

"Since such laptops are thin and light in weight, they have become the second or third PCs of some individual users."

Among the leaders is Taiwanese computer maker Asustek Computer Inc, which unveiled in mid-October its first low-cost brandname laptop computer "Eee PC" targeting children, elderly people and low-income users in the developing world.

Weighing only 0.89 kilograms and installing with a 7-inch screen, the first Eee PCs feature compact mobility, wireless capability and large flash-based storage capacity. They are priced at a range of 300-500 US dollars.

Asustek sold at least 350,000 Eee PCs in the two months after it hit the market. The company sold 650,000 units in the three months to March this year and is estimated to sell up to five million this year, Tseng predicted.

The better-than-expected success has encouraged Asustek's rivals to follow suit.

Also to be seen at the trade show are products featuring futuristic WiMAX products, green IT products, innovative gadgets, and new generation items.

WiMAX stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access and is similar to the more familiar WiFi (wireless fidelity) that most laptops are equipped with.

"Energy-saving products will be in the limelight amid growing global concern about surging oil prices," says Walter Yeh, executive vice president of the trade show organisers, the semi-official Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).

More than 1,700 exhibitors, up 28 percent from the previous year, will be hoping to attract an estimated 35,000 buyers from around the world.

To meet rising demand, the trade show for the first time will be held simultaneously on four venues, three at or near the Taipei World Trade Centre and the fourth at a newly established exhibition hall in a city suburb.

Yeh said he hoped the show would attract orders worth up to 20 billion US dollars as well as another 30 billion dollars worth of follow-up business opportunities.

He said weaker demand from the United States due to the subprime financial crisis and the falling dollar would be offset by demand from Southeast Asia and other emerging markets.

Unlike the CeBIT IT fair in Hanover, Germany, Computex Taipei is aimed at suppliers and retailers rather than general customers, said Chang Li, deputy secretary general of the Taipei Computer Association.

However, the exhibition will be open to local individual customers on the last day.