Taiwan's mainboard 2010 shipment target has not been reached

Taiwan’s Electronics Times reported that due to the European debt crisis and the weaker-than-expected market demand in Mainland China, Taiwan’s motherboard manufacturers have not reached their 2010 shipment targets. Since the mainland has become the largest motherboard market in the world, all manufacturers have placed their 2011 sales focus on the mainland market.

It is estimated that Asustek's mainboard shipments in 2010 were about 21.6 million units, which was the same as in 2009, lower than the company’s expected 25 million units. And ASUS's ASRock shipments are estimated to be 8 million, an increase of 1 million over the previous year, but still lower than the company's 9 million plan.

Gigabyte also maintained 18.5 million shipments, which was the same as last year, lower than the company’s 20 million plan. The elite and MSI shipments were 6.5 million and 7 million respectively. Although both manufacturers have large OEM orders for first-tier PC makers, they also failed to meet the 2010 target. Meanwhile, shipments of their own-brand motherboards have been exceeded by ASRock.

In the Chinese mainland market, ASUS shipped about 7 million units this year, 550 to 6 million Gigabytes, less than 2 million microstars and elites, and about 800,000 ASRock.

Due to the focus on high-margin high-end market, Asustek and Gigabyte's mainboard business can maintain a better level of profitability even if sales are not as expected. The MSI and elites have seen an increase in the proportion of OEM business and the decline in shipments of self-owned branded motherboards.