ASUS and Gigabyte only ones to see growth in motherboard shipments

Sources in the upstream supply chain whispered to DigiTimes that most motherboard makers are struggling with declining sales. The only exceptions are ASUS and Gigabyte, the largest players in the market, they are expected to post a slight on-year growth in the first half of this year, whereas ASRock, MSI, ECS and Biostar are all seeing drops in volume and profit.

The 2016 motherboard shipments from ASUS and Gigabyte are expected to stay stable versus the 2015 level, as the two firms continue to gain marketshare from the smaller players in the market.

The sources expect Asustek and Gigabyte's motherboard shipments in 2016 to stay at the same level in 2015 and neither of them is able to break 20 million units. Since overall demand continues shrinking, the top-2 players are likely to continue taking market share from lower-tier players.

Asustek and Gigabyte each shipped about 4.4 million motherboards in the first quarter, up 10% sequentially, but down slightly from 4.5 million units in the same quarter a year ago. As for the second quarter's shipments, most motherboard players are conservative about their performances.