Tuesday, January 13th 2009
ASUS and Gigabyte Overstocked with Intel 4-series Chipset Inventories
Weak market demand, a market saturated with low-cost PCs, and intra-brand competition has reportedly led to first-tier motherboard vendors such as ASUS and Gigabyte to suffer overstock of their Intel 4-series chipset motherboard inventories. The Intel 4-series chipset is the fourth generation of desktop chipsets for LGA-775 processors. It includes popular models such as P45, P43, the mainstream G45, G43 and G41, and others that include Q45, B45 and B43. Motherboards made by leading companies have had less than expected market demand. Earlier in September last year, when ASUS announced price-cuts for its 4-series motherboards, reported back then to make them "competitive", sources tell DigiTimes that the company was already facing swelling inventories.
As a result of this, the biggest loser seems to be ASUS, with a swelling inventory of 6~7 million units, valued at around $180 million, followed by Gigabyte holding an inventory worth around $130 million, which are quickly depreciating in value as the market gets closer to the launch of Intel's 5-series chipsets and the Ibex-Peak platform. With Intel planning to stick to its launch-schedule for its newest platform, motherboard vendors can only hope for Intel to reconsider its plans, delay its launch, and allow the inventories to get digested.
As a result of this, the biggest loser seems to be ASUS, with a swelling inventory of 6~7 million units, valued at around $180 million, followed by Gigabyte holding an inventory worth around $130 million, which are quickly depreciating in value as the market gets closer to the launch of Intel's 5-series chipsets and the Ibex-Peak platform. With Intel planning to stick to its launch-schedule for its newest platform, motherboard vendors can only hope for Intel to reconsider its plans, delay its launch, and allow the inventories to get digested.