Asustek Computer and Micro-Star International (MSI) saw motherboard shipments rise 15% and 23.5%, respectively, on-month in August, whereas Gigabyte Technology managed only a single-digit sequential growth in shipments in the same month. Meanwhile, Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) saw its August shipments were almost similar to the previous month.

Since posting an on-year slide of 8.7% after-tax profits during the first half, Asustek has begun putting more effort in maintaining motherboard gross margins and increasing notebook sales for the second half of this year, company sources indicated. The company shipped 4.64 motherboards in August, up 15% sequentially and nearly 9% on year. For the first eight months, accumulated motherboard shipments totaled 35.47 million units, achieving 59.12% of Asustek's 2006 shipment projection.

Besides motherboards, Asustek shipped 500,000-550,000 notebooks in August, with an on-year increase of 30-40% and an on-month growth of 10-20%.

ECS posted an on-month rise of 0.76% in consolidated revenues in August, while the company's motherboard shipments remained flat sequentially. The company shipped 15.22 million motherboards from January to August, with an on-year increase of 29.54%. ECS shipped a total of 460,000 notebooks from January to August, up 29.8% from the same period of 2005.

Gigabyte, whose joint venture with Asustek to target the clone motherboard market will become operational in 2007, generated non-consolidated revenues of NT$4.97 billion in August, up 47.81% from the previous month. The company also enjoyed the largest on-month shipment growth of 23.5% among the four leading motherboard makers.