Gigabyte may ship less than 10 million motherboards in 2018

Gigabyte Technology may see its motherboard shipments fall under 10 million units in 2018, to compare, back in 2013 that was 20 million. It's likely due to further shrinkage in demand for mining motherboards, according to industry sources.

The sources said that global motherboard shipments are estimated to decline at least 10% on year in 2018 after posting an annual fall of 15% in 2017. But some motherboard vendors including ASRock and Micro-Star International (MSI) managed to buck the decline trend in shipments or profits with increased shipment ratios for higher-end motherboards demanded from the gaming and crypto mining sectors, reports DigiTimes:

This was not the case with Gigabyte. The company's motherboard shipments plunged to 12.6 million units in 2017 from 16.2 million in 2016 due mainly to the firm's organizational restructuring starting in August 2017.

The firm's motherboard shipments are estimated to fall at least one million units on year to five million units in the first half of 2018, and it will have to work hard to maintain the year's total shipments above the 10 million level, the industry sources said. They reasoned that the firm's restructured motherboard division has yet to get on the track of smooth operation, and that overall global demand for motherboards remains on the decline despite slight increase from the gaming sector.

In contrast, Asustek Computer is expected to maintain its motherboard shipments for 2018 at the same level of 16.5 million units as recorded in 2017 due to strong sales of its ROG-branded gaming machines and the paying off of its group integration synergies. This will enable Asustek to extend its lead over Gigabyte to over six million units in terms of annual motherboard shipments in 2018, further consolidating its leadership in the global motherboard market.

Meanwhile, MSI is expected to see its motherboard shipments reach nearly six million units with higher ASP (average selling prices) in 2018. The industry sources predicted that MSI could unseat Gigabyte as the world's No. 2 motherboard supplier by 2020 should the latter's shipments continue to trend downward and profit performance fail to improve in the coming few years.

Bolstered by sharp increases in shipments of graphic cards for crypto mining machines, Gigabyte saw its consolidated revenues for the first quarter of 2018 soar 29.9% sequentially and 51.38% on year to NT$20.17 billion (US$675.31 million). The industry sources estimated the firm's profit numbers for the first half of 2018 to be better than a year earlier due to robust earnings in the first quarter.