HP must be feeling increasingly anxious at the moment. Not only has the company just reported staggering losses of $9 billion over the last quarter, but its status as the world’s leading PC maker is increasingly under threat.

While HP struggles, Lenovo’s star continues to rise as its share of the PC market just keeps on growing. The Chinese firm has just announced a 30% increase in profits over the first quarter, raking in some $141.1 million as it edges its way closer to the number one spot.

Lenovo’s latest success is down to a 24% jump in PC shipments – a considerable achievement given that the rest of the PC market is experiencing a slump in sales. In total, Lenovo posted first quarter revenues of $8.01 billion, about 50% of which came from sales on its home turf in China.

Clearly, China is a vital market for Lenovo as it looks to overhaul HP and take its place as the number one PC manufacturer, and not just because the company is based there. China is one of the few countries in the world that’s still experiencing relatively high growth rates, while its PC penetration rate remains tiny – facts that ensure the market has huge potential for some time to come.

On an international scale, Lenovo are going just as strong – sales in the US increased by 6.8% over the last quarter to $1.18 billion, while sales in Europe and the Middle East raked in another $1.58 billion.

Being so successful, it’s easy to get carried away though, and Lenovo do come across a little bit cocky these days. When questioned about a possible challenge it faced from Microsoft’s new Surface tablet, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said that his firm “wasn’t worried as it produced much better hardware than anyone else”.