First-Class Motherboard Unveil Ambitious Growth Goals

Taipei, Feb. 6, 2006 (CENS)--All the top-four motherboard manufacturers in Taiwan have announced ambitious operation goals for 2006, with Elitegroup Computer Systems Co., Ltd. (ECS), the No. 2 in Taiwan, projecting a whopping annual revenue growth of 147%.

Asustek Computer Inc., the world's No. 1 motherboard maker, aims for a 40% revenue growth and a revenue goal of NT$500 billion (US$15.63 billion at US$1: NT$32) this year.

Asustek posted record annual shipment volumes of motherboards, notebook PCs, and video graphics array (VGA) cards in 2005. Company chairman Jonney Shih recently claimed that Asustek targets to challenge an annual motherboard shipment volume of 60 million units this year, up about 15% from 2005.

Asustek also aims to ship six million notebook PCs this year, up 60% from last year, and three million cell phones, compared with last year' s one million units or so.

Shih said that Asustek would also focus on the Digital Home business and has mapped out a monthly shipment goal of 800 liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs.

ECS chairman Johnson Chiang claimed that since the acquisition of Tatung's desktop PC business last year, his company has simultaneously run three major product lines, including motherboard, notebook PC, and desktop PC. The three major product categories are expected to account for 20%, 30%, and 50%, respectively, of ECS' revenues this year.

According to Chiang, ECS would actively strive to win big-ticket original design manufacturing (ODM) orders from the world' s top-10 motherboard brands this year, and adjust the production ratios for own-brand/ODM products to 50-50 from the current level of 60-40.

ECS would also focus on development of regional-brand notebook PC products, Chiang added.

ECS aims to challenge an annual motherboard shipment goal of 30 million units, up 50% from last year, and 1.5 million notebook PCs. The company's total revenue is expected to top NT$100 billion (US$3.13 billion) this year, Chiang said.

Chairman Joseph Hsu of Micro-Star International Co. (MSI) said that his company targets to ship 20 million motherboards this year, up about 18% from 2005. He added that MSI's non-board/card products, such as notebook PCs, barebone systems, servers, and other consumer-electronics items, would serve as the major revenue-growth engine this year. MSI expects to have revenue of NT$80 billion (US$2.5 billion) this year, up 15% from last year. Revenues of notebook PCs, servers and barebone systems are expected to all outstrip NT$10 billion (US$312.5 million), respectively.

Operation Goals of Taiwan Top Motherboard Makers for 2006
Company	Shipment Goal	Revenue Goal	Growth
Asustek	60M. Motherboards, 6M. Notebook PCs, 3M. Cell phones.	NT$500 B.	40%
ECS	30M. Motherboards, 1.5M. Notebook PCs.	NT$100 B.	147%
MSI	20M. Motherboards.	NT$80 B.	15%
Giga-Byte	Over 1.8M. Motherboards, 4.5M. To 5M. VGA cards.	NT$50 B.	10%

Source: The companies.