14 DAY TRIAL // Ever since it was launched, the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 standard has been steadily growing in popularity, even though it is not natively supported on motherboards, except if a special controller from NEC is included. This limitation has, so far, prevented the interface from even approaching the mainstream. Even so, however, USB 3.0 products seem to have sold rather well, with NEC even revealing that it had already sold three million controllers. Now, Gigabyte proudly shows that a third of them went into its own motherboards, essentially making it the leading supplier of USB 3.0 products.
Basically, Gigabyte sold about one million motherboards that integrated NEC's µPD720200 controller. This controller has been, to date, the only such device that can give motherboards support for the new interface.
Of course, there are other motherboard makers that have USB 3.0-enabled products, but Gigabyte distinguished itself through the fact that it offered a significantly wider range. The complete line includes motherboards based on the AMD 790FX, 790X, 770, 785G chipsets, as well as Intel's X58, P55, H57, H55, P45 and P43. Not only that, but Gigabyte is even gearing up to send out AMD 800 Series chipset-based mainboards.
"Reaching the 1 million USB 3.0 products mark is a testament to GIGABYTE’s strategy of innovating for the high-end product category, and then driving those innovations down through our product line quicker than our competitors in order to boost sales volumes," Henry Kao, senior vice president, Motherboard Business Unit, GIGABYTE Technology Co. Ltd., said.
"Today, one out of three SuperSpeed USB platforms on the market feature a GIGABYTE motherboard because we have a top-to-bottom range of desktop motherboards that are globally available as Windows 7 breathes new life into the desktop PC market. There could not be a better time to launch a USB 3.0 product!"
Information on the company's USB 3.0 motherboard lineup may be found here.