Acer Inc, the world's No. 3 PC seller, said on Thursday it expected its sales to jump 50 percent or more over the next four years, as it embarks on a worldwide expansion following a recent acquisition.

The Taiwanese company, which recently purchased U.S. PC maker Gateway, expects to post sales of more than US$20 billion next year, growing to between US$30 billion and $40 billion by 2012, Chairman J.T. Wang said at a media briefing to announce the company would become a major Olympic sponsor starting in 2009.

Wang added that Acer expected to post double-digit percentage sales growth over each of the next few years.

Analysts were expecting Acer to post about US$14 billion in revenue this year, and US$19 billion in 2008, which would be its first full year with Gateway's contribution, according to Reuters Estimates.

Acer is also in talks to buy European PC maker Packard Bell, though no deal has been announced.

The company has grown rapidly over the last few years in Europe, and hopes to boost its U.S. presence with Gateway.

Acer leapfrogged China's Lenovo to become the world's third-largest PC seller following the Gateway acquisition this autumn, but it is still well behind the world's top two PC sellers, Hewlett-Packard and Dell. (Reporting by Sheena Lee, writing by Doug Young, editing by Will Waterman)

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