Lenovo considering to buy MSI gaming laptop business

Word on the street is that Lenovo is interested in acquiring MSI's gaming notebook business to launch itself into the gaming laptop market. While MSI denied the reports, DigiTimes claims the firms are still negotiating over an acquisition proposal.

MSI's gaming laptop division has seen good growth in recent years and contrary to the overall laptop market, gaming systems are still growing strong. Market watchers believe a sale to Lenovo could be a good opportunity for MSI as the company is bound to face fierce competition from Dell, Acer and ASUS in the near future.

The Taiwan-based maker has not yet turned down the offer from Lenovo, who is a major client of MSI's ODM/OEM business, and both sides are still negotiating over the proposed acquisition, the sources said.

MSI's success in the gaming notebook market has also prompted others such as Acer, Asustek Computer and Toshiba to start developing such products for the market, which in turn is forcing the long-standing leader Alienware, a gaming sub-brand of Dell, to start taking more aggressive actions to defend its position.

While demand for traditional notebooks has been weakening and their ASPs declining, sales of gaming notebooks and related peripherals have been growing and contributing strong profits.