Computer Boards & Cards

Robust PC sales continue to drive global demand for computer boards and cards. And there's no end in sight. In 2005, Taiwan makers will produce 112.3 million motherboards — 86% of the world's supply. Plus mainland China suppliers are forecast to hike production by 18% over 2004.
How can you source most effectively in a booming supply market like this — with new products and new suppliers coming on the scene every week?

In this all-new report, you'll find the inside information you need to make the decisions that will pay off for your business.

What you'll get

In-depth profiles of 27 leading computer board & card suppliers, with details on manufacturing capacities, product offerings, R&D plans and more. These profiles are based on in-factory visits and interviews with senior managers and are not available anywhere else

Additional profile tables of 20 other major manufacturers, highlighting key sourcing data such as production capabilities, monthly output figures, export markets and quality initiatives for 2005

At-a-glance information on 177 popular export motherboards, graphic cards, PCI LAN cards, TV tuner cards and internal modems using easy-to-compare specifications and full-color pictures

The results of Global Sources' most recent supplier survey, summarizing price, product, production and R&D forecasts for the next 12 months

How you'll benefit

Identify each supplier's technology partners and learn how their relationships impact product quality and your bottom line costs

Discover which companies offer OEM services and sell own- and off-brand products

Get a better understanding of the components and technologies China suppliers are using to create cutting-edge computer boards and cards — and get ahead of the competition

Shortlist leading manufacturers that supply to the world's principal computer makers such as Apple, Dell, Gateway, HP, Sony and NEC

Executive summary

Motherboards and graphics cards dominate computer board and card manufacturing in mainland China and Taiwan. Sound cards, PCI LAN cards and internal modem cards are also available, but the production volume is shrinking every year. TV tuner cards have a stable niche market that is expected to grow due to the rising popularity of entertainment PCs.

Taiwan's computer board and card manufacturing industry has followed the growth of the global PC industry from the 1980s. In 2005, makers from Taiwan will account for 86 percent of global supply of motherboards. Taiwan's motherboard makers are well known because they market their own brands. However, their annual growth has begun to slow down to 3.6 percent, with shipment values decreasing in 2004.

Mainland China makers' total production volume is much smaller than Taiwan's. Nonetheless, motherboard production in the mainland is growing at a faster rate of 17.6 percent. For graphics cards, output is projected to rise by 37.5 percent in 2006. This report identifies many mainland makers that, in the near future, could begin to challenge Taiwan's computer board and card makers' majority market share.

Based on a survey of 26 mainland China and 21 Taiwan makers of motherboards, graphics cards, and other add-on computer cards, here are this report's top-line findings:

Production centers
There are about 330 computer board and card manufacturers in mainland China. More than 180 are in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

Apart from Shenzhen, other makers in Guangdong are concentrated in the cities of Dongguan, Guangzhou and Foshan. Yet more makers are clustered in Beijing, Shanghai and in the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu, Shandong and Tianjin.

There are about 350 computer board and card makers in Taiwan. Many makers operate one factory in Taiwan and another in mainland China, typically in Guangdong province.

Production capability
Due to the similarity of the production processes involved, most makers offer at least two kinds of computer board and card products.

Tier-one makers in mainland China have a monthly production capacity of 300,000 motherboards, 800,000 graphics cards, 100,000 sound cards; 80,000 TV tuner cards, 150,000 internal modems and 100,000 PCI LAN cards.

Taiwan's major suppliers are among the world's biggest, with monthly production capacity reaching 8 million motherboards, 1.5 million graphics cards, 10,000 sound cards, 300,000 TV tuner cards and 450,000 PCI LAN cards.

Only 36 percent of makers from mainland China and Taiwan own PCB-making equipment.

Output and unused capacity
On average, each mainland maker surveyed produced 125,000 computer boards and cards per month in 2004. Average unused capacity is 48 percent. In 2005, the average monthly output is projected to rise to 170,000 units.

Surveyed Taiwan makers produced an average of 660,000 units per month in 2004. Average unused capacity is 48 percent. Average monthly output is forecast to increase by 15 percent to 760,000 units in 2005.

Export capability
Surveyed mainland companies derived an average of 52 percent of their revenues from exports in 2004. They shipped 52 percent of exports to OEM buyers and the rest as ownbrand and off-brand deliveries.

Surveyed Taiwan suppliers derived an average of 94 percent of total revenues from exports in 2004. OEM buyers contributed 40 percent of revenues, own-brand sales 47 percent and off-brand sales 13 percent.

Industry overview

In the early 1980s, each PC's interior contained an array of cards attached to the motherboard, where the central processing unit (CPU) is also inserted. Each add-on card served a particular function. The sound card enabled sound processing and output. The graphics card allowed a monitor to be connected. A LAN card linked the PC to a computer network, while a faxmodem card connected it to the Internet.

Today, most functions that used to require a discrete PC card are integrated in the motherboard through embedded chips. Many manufacturers now offer motherboards with built-in graphics chips, AC'97 audio, LAN on Motherboard (LoM) and fax-modem features. These motherboards are used by many PC assemblers in entry-level and even in some midrange and high-end PC systems.

The emergence of do-it-all motherboards have caused the number of manufacturers and global output of add-on cards to decline significantly from the second half of the 1990s onwards.

Motherboards
Motherboard manufacturing is one of the backbones of Taiwan's IT industry. Taiwan's US$6.2 billion motherboard production value in 2004 accounted for 9.3 percent of the IT industry's total production value. The island's mature motherboard manufacturing sector is vital to its notebook PC, desktop PC and industrial PC (IPC) manufacturing industries.

As many as 60 Taiwan companies manufacture motherboards. Taiwan makers account for eight out of every 10 motherboards produced worldwide. A total of 108 million units were made in 2004. Output is forecast to reach 112 million units in 2005 and 115 million units in 2006.

Though Taiwan's total shipment volume continues to grow, shipment value has started to decline. The Market Intelligence Center (MIC) estimated that Taiwan's total shipment value decreased by 2.9 percent in 2004, even as it posted a 3.6 percent growth in shipment volume.

In contrast, mainland China's motherboard production volume is expected to grow by 18 percent in 2006. Output is projected to reach 4 million units, with a total value of US$165 million.

Unlike their Taiwan counterparts, mainland China's 30 motherboard manufacturers are mainly domestic-oriented. Only 21 percent of production volume is exported.

Low profit margins from the local market are pushing more homegrown manufacturers to boost exports. In the next few years, makers are expected to become more export-oriented, in conjunction with rising production volume.

Featured in this report are many of mainland China's leading candidates to challenge Taiwan's hegemony in the global motherboard market.

Graphics cards
The industrial and creative design markets, and the popularity of 3D gaming, sustain a strong demand for graphics cards. High-end graphics cards are often more expensive than even the latest motherboards. Graphics chipsets from Nvidia Corp. powered most discrete graphics cards until 2003, but in recent years, Nvidia has been surpassed by ATI Technologies.

There are about 50 graphics card makers in Taiwan and 15 to 20 in mainland China. Most of the latter promote in-house brands.

Mainland China makers are expected to manufacture 8 million graphics cards in 2005, with a total value of $240 million. Only 25 percent of the total volume will be exported.

Samples of supplier profile

AboCom Systems Inc.
AboCom Systems Inc. has been manufacturing mobile-data-communication products since 1995. Within the first few years of its operation, AboCom became one of the largest PC card manufacturers in Taiwan. As the demand for information and telecom products increases, the company is also widening its product range with more IA products, Internet-access products, and WLAN and storage products.

The company also offers broadband-access and wireless products such as broadband routers, ADSL/cable modems, WLAN cards and access points, plus IP sharing devices like media gateways and TV broadcasting devices such as smart displays.

AboCom stopped producing PCI Ethernet cards and internal modem cards several years ago, but it currently provides PCI WLAN and Mini PCI WLAN cards for system integrators.

The company's other products include 802.11b and 802.11g PCI and mini PCI cards, GPRS modems and CardBus cards, as well as Bluetooth modules and Bluetooth USB adapters. Most of these products have received FCC, DOC, CSA and JATE approvals.

Wireless products comprise 40 percent of AboCom's networking-product output. The company has a monthly capacity of 300,000 to 400,000 WLAN products. Its current monthly output is 300,000 WLAN products, including 10,000 PCI WLAN cards. Mini PCI WLAN cards account for 30 percent to 40 percent of its PCI WLAN card output.

In 2005, the company projects that its monthly output for PCI WLAN cards will drop due to decreasing demand, but it will continue to produce PCI cards for its regular customers.

AboCom delivers most of its products to OEM and ODM buyers. In 2004, the company started exporting to new markets such as Europe, South Korea, mainland China and Japan.

AboCom maintains a branch office in Taipei, Taiwan and another office in Texas in the United States.

AboCom's total sales revenues reached $138.85 million in 2004. WLAN products accounted for 40 percent to 50 percent of its 2004 revenues. This is expected to gradually increase over the next few years.

PCI WLAN cards, however, account for less three percent of total WLAN product sales. These are gradually being replaced by USB LAN adapters due to the growing popularity of the USB interface. The company projects sales for its PCI WLAN cards to drop by 20 percent to 30 percent in 2005.

Manufacturing capability
AboCom's headquarters is located at the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park in Taiwan, about 110 kilometers northwest of Taipei. Its two factories have a total of 12 production lines, with nine SMT lines and several automatic testing machines and nonwave-soldering machines.

Both facilities have received ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications and in April 2002, SGS International Certification Services declared AboCom as ISO 9001:2000- and TL 9000-compliant.

The company manufactures its products almost entirely for OEM and ODM buyers.

Sample of product gallery

Graphics cards Albatron Model: PC6600GT Release date: December 2004 Minimum order (units): 1,000 Packaging options: Color box Units per 20ft container: 3,666 Delivery time (days): 7 Key features: Nvidia GeForce 6600GT, 128MB DDR3, 2,048x1,536 resolution at 85Hz, PCI-E, VGA, TV-out, DVI

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Global Sources Industry-specific China Sourcing Reports

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