Korean-backed low-cost PC operation EMachines plans to go public around the end of the year, and is aiming to become the first start-up to crack $1 billion in sales in its first 12 months. The company, set up in the US as a joint venture between Trigem and Korea Data Systems, sells PCs for as little as $399 through retail channels, taking advantage of lower production costs in Korea and turning the screws some more by coming in a couple of hundred dollars under rival lowest bids. EMachines is currently claiming to be on target to sell 1.7-2 million PCs this year, having managed 180,000 in the last weeks of last year. These numbers, it says, are coming from a new level of first time buyer market, rather than existing PC buyers. ®