Abit May Be Exiting The Motherboard Business
"Second-tier motherboard maker Abit is reportedly considering phasing out of the motherboard market after evaluating its shipment performance of Intel 4 series motherboards, according to channel sources.
Abit, however, maintains it does not know anything about the speculation and will continue to develop motherboard products.
Abit's has failed to meet the expectations of parent company Universal Scientific Industrial (USI) in its ability to compete with fellow second-tier makers in terms of performance, or first-tier makers in terms of pricing in the mid-range and entry-level market, and so the company is evaluating whether to quit the market and start developing other products for the Abit brand, noted the sources.
In 2007, Abit shipped 2-3 million motherboards and had set a goal to ship six million units in 2008. However, the company's current shipments have actually decreased. Abit will determine whether to stay in the market after evaluating its shipments performance of P45-based motherboards, added the sources."
Since being bailed out by USI, Abit has had some success and has produced quite a few quality products. The company's focus on the enthusiast segment, which used to be their bread and butter, however, has noticably waned. In fact, the majority of news we have received from Abit as of late has pertained to entry level and HTPC products and not the highly-overclockable, enthusiast class products that put the company on the map.