- The third quarter of 2004 brought a mixed bag for the Greater Chinese motherboard industry. The corporate market stabilized due to renewed global economic development and growing IT investment. However, unspectacular back-to-school season sales defied the forecasted warm-up for the consumer market, hindering the performance of the clone segment. Shipment volume for motherboards grew 4.1% year-on-year and 18.5% sequentially to total approximetly 34.7 million units.

Power shortages in China coupled with a rise in prices for raw materials in the international market conspired to slow down the price war among motherboard makers in the third quarter. In addition, Intel slowly began to boost shipments of its 915 chipset. As a result, ASP (Average Selling Price) for motherboards in the third quarter rose to US$56.40. Although ASP increased, it still lagged behind last year's figures. Total shipment value came in just short of US$ 2 billion, a year-on-year drop of 7.0%.

The fourth quarter is expected to bring the traditional holiday rise in consumer demand, which will stimulate growth in the clone market. Shipments of high-end motherboards should receive a boost from the rollout of AMD's new K8 CPU. On the downside, oil prices are likely to continue to rise to record-high levels, which will increase production costs for motherboard makers by exerting pressure on market prices for glass fabric, resin, and other raw materials. Moreover, a further hike in oil prices is sure to eat into consumer buying power and dampen demand. Fourth quarter shipment volume for motherboard makers in Greater China is thus forecasted to post sequential growth of 13% and year-on-year growth of 6.9%.