In the second quarter of 2008 worldwide motherboard shipment volume is estimated to have reached 34.7 million units, seeing year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter declines. In the second quarter, the off-season effect was apparent, especially for the clone market. Shipments to emerging markets played key roles in driving growth momentum of the worldwide motherboard industry in the second quarter of 2007. In 2008, growth momentum in emerging markets is slowing down, except for the Asia-Pacific market. In the second quarter, traditionally an off-season, North American and Western European markets suffered relatively weak shipment performances, especially North America, which was more severely affected by the overall economic situation. The impact of the off-season effect on these two regions, however, was within the predicted range. Meanwhile, shipment to the China market, which has the largest market scale among emerging markets, was weaker than expected.