Global PC manufacturers except Apple could not break the language barrier, and the Japanese PC market was isolated from the global market. In addition, Japanese computer manufacturers marketed personal computers that were based on each proprietary architecture for the domestic market. IBM clones lacked graphics capabilities to handle complex Japanese writing systems. NEC succeeded in attracting third-party suppliers and a wide range of users, and the PC-98 dominated the Japanese PC market with more than 60% by 1991. The range of the series has expanded, and in the 1990s it was used in a variety of industry fields including education and hobbies. The PC-98 was initially released as a business-oriented personal computer which had backward compatibility with the successful PC-8800 series. The platform established NEC's dominance in the Japanese personal computer market, and, by 1999, more than 18 million units were sold. The PC-9800 series ( Japanese: PC-9800シリーズ, Hepburn: Pī Shī Kyūsen Happyaku Shirīzu), commonly shortened to PC-98 or 98 ( キューハチ, Kyū-hachi), is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2000.
