Dell clung to the top spot among PC makers in 2006, when it shipped just over 38 million computers?only about 20,000 more than rival Hewlett-Packard (HP), which acquired Compaq in 2001. HP also reported gains in the fast-growing laptop segment, mostly at the expense of Dell. After HP and Dell, the next three largest PC makers in 2006 were all based outside the United States: Lenovo of China (which purchased IBM's PC division in 2001), Acer of Taiwan, and Toshiba of Japan. Analysts observed that competitors had found ways to duplicate much of Dell's operations. See also the A and B cases (UVA-BP-0518 and UVA-BP-0519).