ABIT Closes Gates on December 31st

According to the latest news on the web, the well known motherboard manufacturer ABIT, once a leading provider of high-performance products, will close its gates on December 31st this year. The company will cease to exist, as Universal Scientific Industrial is undergoing through a restructuring process meant to help it cut down costs.

A while ago, ABIT was known as the provider of the best motherboards in the world. The boards feature excellent quality and precise tweaking capabilities, which attracted both enthusiasts and overclockers to their side. The company managed to become one of the biggest players in the industry at a certain point, helped by the dramatic popularity growth of high-end hardware earlier this decade, yet it started to experience decrease due to questionable management.

When it started to go down, the company left the graphics card business and then started selling most of its assets along with the ABIT brand name to Universal Scientific Industrial in 2006. USI, specialized in motherboard manufacturing for branded PC makers in the beginning, tried to resurrect the brand which started to lose popularity in 2004 – 2005, yet failed to do so. The company has decided to close the legendary Abit motherboard business this year.

Universal Scientific Industrial was reported earlier this year not to have met expectations for ABIT's business. Moreover, the company was stated to plan pulling out of the motherboard business and focus on other devices. Last year, ABIT was said to have sold two or three million motherboards, while this year the shipments dropped much lower. Back then, the maker refused to comment on the news.

ABIT showcased the FunFab digital photo frame with integrated printer and mobile Internet device (MID) at Computex Taipei 2008. In addition, some new motherboards were also demonstrated, and the company announced great hopes on platforms based on Intel P45 core-logic.