In the third quarter of 2011, amid the highly uncertain economy in North America and Europe, the global motherboard shipments turned out to be better than expected, thanks to the summer promotions in July, back-to-school demand in September, and the advance purchase for the October long holiday in China. The overall third-quarter shipment volume is expected to have increased 7.6% in comparison with the second quarter of 2011, reaching 39.46 million units. The price competition and the growing share of mid-range and value-line products drove down ASP (Average Selling Price) in the second quarter; nevertheless, benefiting from shipment volume growth, the industry's overall shipment value is expected to witness a 3.6% sequential growth to about US$1.76 billion.