Worldwide personal computer industry shipments picked up pace in the third quarter as 22.6 million computers were produced -- 14 to 15 per cent more than the year-ago third quarter -- as the industry worked off a build-up of excess inventory that sapped growth in 1998's first half.

Compaq remained the No. 1 PC supplier, both in the world and in the United States, while IBM regained the No. 2 world rank and after slipping to third behind fast-growing Dell in the second quarter, the survey's preliminary data showed.

``Though some regions of the world continue to confirm the dampening effects of the financial turmoil in Asia/Pacific, worldwide PC unit growth remains healthy,'' Dataquest analyst Bill Schaub said.

``Combined shipments in the US andEurope comprise nearly 60 per cent of the world's demand for PCs, and these two regions are experiencing exceptional PC unit growth,'' he said.

In the United States, market researchers divided over the rate of growth, with International Data Corp estimating a 14 per cent annual rate in the third quarter and Gartner Group Inc's Dataquest calculating 18 per cent growth.

At that rate, the US market will continue on track to have a majority of American households owning at least one computer by the end of 1998. Dataquest forecasts that 51 per cent of all US homes will own a PC this year versus 43 per cent in 1997.

The direct PC distributors, Dell and Gateway, showed the strongest growth both worldwide and in the United States.

Compaq shipments actually declined 8 per cent year-to-year, although this reflected the huge backlog of computers shipped to distributors ahead of the 1997 holiday season that led to a glut Compaq has only recently worked its way out from under.

Taking advantage of its efficientdirect-to-the-customer sales approach, Dell grew above 60 per cent, several times the rate of IBM's growth, foreshadowing a battle for the No. 2 world rank if both companies' shipments continue to rise at their current rates.

Gateway eclipsed one-time US Retail PC leader Packard Bell NEC to snag the No. 5 rank both worldwide and domestically.

But the survey findings revived criticism by some PC makers and Wall Street brokers who argue that the quarterly research data continues to understate the global growth in PCs actually purchased by customers, which one analyst put at 20 per cent.

The two leading PC market research firms count shipments into distribution channels or direct to computer users. They do not track sales out of indirect distribution channels, say from a retailer to a final customer.

Nor do they measure revenues, which Schaub noted, were ``pretty flat'' in the third quarter, as several PC makers boosted the portion of cheaper PCs priced less than $1,000 that they sold, causing averageselling prices to drop year-to-year.

Compaq spokesman Alan Hodel said that while third-quarter shipments fell 8 per cent from a year ago, they grew 30 per cent versus the 1998 second quarter and by 38 per cent measured in terms of final customer sales, not initial shipments.

Adjusting the figures to reflect what Compaq and IBM have were their sales to final customers, PC shipments grew 20 per cent worldwide in the third quarter, not the 15 per cent reported by IDC, Bear Stearns PC analyst Andrew Neff said.

``Reports of the death of the computer industry have certainly been exaggerated,'' Neff wrote in remarks to investors ahead of the public release of the market share data.

He noted that third-quarter PC shipments and better-than-expected financial results reported for the quarter by Intel, IBM, Microsoft and others in recent weeks suggest that at least among the industry leaders, solid growth continues.