Softpedia >News >Technology & Gadgets >Motherboards
Softpedia Homepage   

Mixed Shipment Growth Predicted for Taiwanese Motherboard Makers

ASUS and Gigabyte grow while MSI stagnates and ECS declines

Jan 23, 2010 11:51 GMT  ·  By
Taiwanese motherboard makers will see mixed results concerning Q1 2010 shipments
   Taiwanese motherboard makers will see mixed results concerning Q1 2010 shipments

Even though the economic downturn still hasn't passed, 2009 was generally a better year for the industry and many companies predict or have already reported revenue and/or shipment growth for last year, especially the fourth quarter. No doubt, the most representative example is AMD, which posted profits after multiple consecutive quarters of losses. Now that the financial situation for 2009 is more or less clear, rumors have begun to emerge on Taiwanese motherboard makers' estimated shipment growth for Q1 2010.

Out of Asustek Computer, Gigabyte Technology, Micro-Star International (MSI) and Elite Computer Systems (ECS), only the first two are expected to post sequential shipment growth for the first quarter of 2010. ECS's own brand motherboard shipments are expected to fall by 10%, whereas MSI is expected to stagnate. The remaining two are set to grow by 10% each.

Market watchers report that, including OEM orders, MSI shipped about five million motherboards during the third quarter of 2009, whereas its Q4 shipped units amounted to 3.8 million, with a total of 17 million motherboards sold for the entire 2009. However, the number of own brand motherboards only reached 2 million. The company expects Q1 2010 to yield roughly the same number of shipments.

ECS, on the other hand, is expected to see shipment drops of about 10 percent. This means that the company will ship about 1.8 million units. As a side note, the hardware maker's 2009 shipments amounted to about 8 million own brand motherboards.

The only two companies set to see any sort of marketing performance increase during the current quarter are Asustek and Gigabyte. Both expect a 10% rise. Gigabyte expects to ship about four million units in the ongoing quarter and is targeting 17-18 million own brand shipments for the entire year. Asustek aims higher, with plans to ship about 25 million units, out of which 8.3 million are headed for China. The company's motherboards shipped during the first quarter of 2010 are expected to reach 5.2-5.5 million.

The report was published by Digitmes.