Rumor: Asus Making Offer to Acquire ASRock Mobo Division
Asus may be gearing up to purchase ASRock's motherboard division.
Over the weekend, a rumor surfaced that Asus made a bid for ASRock's motherboard division. If true, the deal would not only strengthen Asus' overall motherboard portfolio, but take the #3 motherboard player off the map. That would leave Gigabyte, MSI, ECS and numerous other manufacturers fighting against an even larger Asus for the DIY consumer dollar.
Taiwan-based ASRock was originally formed in 2002 to compete with the likes of Foxconn, but then accelerated its presence in the DIY sector once the Taiwan Stock Exchange launched in 2007. "Creativity, Consideration, Cost-effectiveness" is the company’s motto, as it "explores the limit of motherboards manufacturing while paying attention on the eco issue at the same time." It's currently owned by Pegatron Corporation, a spinoff company and former subsidiary of Asus.
Pegatron was initially incorporated in 2007 as a part of Asus' plan to divide its business into focused work forces. Pegatron was assigned to serve as the company's design and manufacturing service provider of computer related products, but it eventually became a stand-alone spinoff in January 2010. The company’s portfolio includes desktops, motherboards, video cards, and more.
According to the rumor, Pegatron has given the acquisition's terms a green light. Without the motherboard division, ASRock will still have other products to offer like Mini PCs, industrial PCs, servers and workstations, and laptops. But ASRock is seemingly best known for its motherboards, ranked #3 in the industry and even earned the Tom's Hardware Approved Award 2012 in July for its Z77 Extreme6 and Z77 Extreme4 boards.
The acquisition rumor was first reported by SemiAccurate who believes that this transaction could destabilize the "already unhealthy industry" – or the motherboard sector at least – leaving Asus and Gigabyte as the only two players. The acquisition would also take its toll on the upstream and downstream supply chain not to mention the motherboard players who didn't have the revenue to compete with Asus and ASRock as standalone entities.
As of this writing, Asus and ASRock had not commented on the rumor. The details surrounding the supposed acquisition are also scarce, so stay tuned.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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beayn Never had a good experience with an ASRock motherboard. I always buy Asus. I'm not sure I like this deal :/Reply -
Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer I'm not sure how I feel about this. I went ASRock over Asus for my P67 build (due to some apparent issues with Asus's P67 offerings) and I don't have any regrets about the decision. I sort of feel like ASRock is doing okay the way they are.Reply -
bluebob951 Meh, don't really like Asus that much, I tried them out a while ago and the mobo came missing resistors. Don't want to buy another Asus mobo, I have an ASRock Mobo, and have had no problems with it, I think they are fine one there own.Reply -
puddleglum I didn't know ASRock is an independant company. I still thought they were a subsidiary of ASUS. Sort of like Lincoln Mercury to Ford.Reply -
sliem master_chenB-B-B-but, AsRock already belongs to Anus! They are basically the same company!Reply
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deweycd I found Asus to be a great MB maker. The last 6 computers I built used Asus with no issue. My last ASRock however blew up when I upgraded the power supply. POP! There go half the capacitors. Other experiences of ASRock have not been so bad. I always thought of them as the “cheaper” version of Asus as I find Asus boards tend to come at a premium over many other brands.Reply -
bourgeoisdude My current and previous mobo were ASRock. I've also built a couple of friends' systems with ASRock mobos (except theirs were cheap with onboard video and the like). All systems are still running, haven't had a single problem with them. Same can't be said of my experience with Asus.Reply -
g00fysmiley puddleglumI didn't know ASRock is an independant company. I still thought they were a subsidiary of ASUS. Sort of like Lincoln Mercury to Ford.Reply
they are independant for a car analogy think 1990's mazda to ford relationship, they share components and even some designs but are different companies and final products, like the ford probe and mazda mx-6 same engine/transmission little different style -
I don't know how I feel about this, like many other commenters on here. I have had both Asus and ASrock boards. I've had all good experiences with ASrock, my current number 1 desktop is ASrock Extreme 4 Z68 which I really like. I've had mostly good experiences with Asus also, but a few bad ones too. Overall I think it's bad. But if it does happen, maybe Asus will be smart and kind of leave them alone and let them do their own thing. If it has to go down, the dynamic I would like to see would be ASrock for the low and mid range ATX and Micro ATX boards, have them do the mini ITX boards, then have Asus concentrate and make the ROG super high end boards. But mostly if it happens I hope Asus leaves them alone and realizes they have a winning business model and lets them do what they want.Reply