Due to slowing economic growth and subsequently high inventory levels on the end of channel and branded vendors, with some clients even reporting increasing capital insufficiency, the worldwide motherboard shipment volume dropped about 18.1% year-on-year and 15.1% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2008. The scale of decline in the fourth quarter of 2008 was seldom seen since 2001. Full-year shipment volume is estimated at 146.7 million units, dropping more than 4% in comparison with 2007. Looking ahead to 2009, as the economic outlook is still unclear, it is forecasted that the full-year shipment volume will continue to drop about 10% due to lackluster end product demand and inventory buildups.