One of the top four manufacturers of mainboards will cease to exist in about three years from now, according to a vice president of MicroStar International. The reasons for that is slow desktop computer market growth and the growing popularity of notebooks. Obviously, before one of the top four makers is gone, many second-tier makers will vanish into thin air.

Asustek Computer, Gigabyte Technology, EliteGroup Computer Systems (ECS) and MicroStar International (MSI) are currently the world’s largest makers of both branded and generic mainboards, who control the lion’s share of the market. But one of them will “drop out” of the market in the next few years since limited further expansion of the motherboard business “will not be able to support the growth of the four giants any more”, said Henry Lu, vice president of products at MSI, in an interview with DigiTimes web-site.
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