14 DAY TRIAL // Since the new year has started, IT companies have begun outlining what they expect from 2013, even though most of them haven't tallied their sales for 2012.
ASUS and Gigabyte have shown a distinct lack of excitement over what 2013 is likely to mean for them.
According to “industry sources” that shall remain anonymous, the two IT players think they will ship around the same number of motherboards this year as the last.
ASUS expects a slight drop, to 21.5-22 million (2012 brought 22-22.2 million), which Gigabyte sees a positive evolution, from 19 to 20 million.
Their combined shipments could go down 3-5% in 2013, due to the general slowdown on the PC market.
For those unaware, ASUS and Gigabyte are seen as the world' top two motherboard makers in some circles, in no small part due to the fierce competition in terms of price/performance, especially in China.
They are a bit ahead of some, and leagues ahead of others. Intel, for instance, doesn't even hold a candle to these two as far as shipments go.
Then again, that much would have been easy enough to guess from what happened just a short time ago, or what rumors say happened.
For those still unaware, Intel has decided to quit the motherboard business altogether and leave the segment to those with a shining history in it.
It won't happen right away, but its models will be phased out over the next several months. ASUS and Gigabyte, along with every other mainboard maker left (ASRock, EVGA, etc.) will get to pick up the slack, which can only help their finances.
Moving forward, China will continue to be one of, if not the most important market. It may not be an emerging market anymore, but it still has plenty of potential customers. It is a reason the PC industry hasn't declined faster.