World's second-largest GPU maker flees China on cusp of RTX 5090 launch to avoid US sanctions — Zotac, Inno3D, and Manli's GPU maker bails amid looming US GPU export controls

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Company HQ will move to Singapore, with rumors of a production shift to Indonesia.

Zotac triple spinner graphics card
(Image credit: Zotac)

HKEPC reports that PC Partner, a Hong Kong-based company, will relocate its headquarters to Singapore, creating PC Partner Singapore PTE Ltd. The company, which makes GPUs for brands like Zotac, Inno3D, and Manli, is also reportedly shifting its production facilities to Indonesia. Apparently, the GPU maker shifted its base and production in time for the launch of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards, swerving any expected high-tech export controls imposed on China by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The recent PC Partner Group Limited (PCT) listing on the Singapore SGX stock exchange provides evidence of HKEPC's claim. However, HKEPC said that the China-to-Indonesia production shift was a rumor.

The PC Partner name might not be very familiar to youngsters as components featuring the eponymous brand, founded in 1997, aren’t widespread in the West in the 2020s. However, some of us remember the firm’s accessibly priced motherboards from a few decades ago. PC Partner also previously produced Radeon reference graphics cards for AMD, so the company isn't a lightweight by any means.

Image 1 of 2
PC Partner Group Limited listed on the Singapore SGX stock exchange
(Image credit: SGX Group)

In 2024, PC Partner is probably an even more important player in the PC components business, making cards for brands such as Zotac, Inno3D, and Manli. These are all important PC graphics card players, although some aren't very popular in the U.S. market. According to HKEPC, combining all the brands makes PC Partner “the world’s second-largest graphics card manufacturer.”

The U.S. sanctions on powerful GPUs will have already hit PC Partner during the RTX 40-series era, and the firm seems to have decided it is a worthwhile use of time, effort, and money to uproot its operations ahead of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series (Blackwell) onslaught completely.

Based in and operating from un-sanctioned territories, we will see plenty of Zotac-branded RTX 5090 graphics cards marketed here in the West and in other friendly territories. With the performance uplifts expected across the RTX 50 family, it may even be the case that RTX 5080 products will be too advanced or powerful to avoid sanctions. All this uncertainty should be eliminated for PC Partner’s business going forward.

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Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Sluggotg
    Hong Kong was one of my favorite ports back in the 80's when I was in the Navy. Now it is part of Communist China. I am glad they are moving to Singapore. Singapore was nice back then too but they have very strict laws, (except copyright laws). Both places had massive amounts of Pirating of Software and other media. One of the main piracy places in Hong Kong was a store in a massive mall. They never had to hide it.

    Zotac started as a budget product company but they got past that and made some nice motherboards at good prices. I hope this works well for them.
    Reply
  • Zarathustra3612
    Sluggotg said:
    Hong Kong was one of my favorite ports back in the 80's when I was in the Navy. Now it is part of Communist China. I am glad they are moving to Singapore. Singapore was nice back then too but they have very strict laws, (except copyright laws). Both places had massive amounts of Pirating of Software and other media. One of the main piracy places in Hong Kong was a store in a massive mall. They never had to hide it.

    Zotac started as a budget product company but they got past that and made some nice motherboards at good prices. I hope this works well for

    Sluggotg said:
    Hong Kong was one of my favorite ports back in the 80's when I was in the Navy. Now it is part of Communist China. I am glad they are moving to Singapore. Singapore was nice back then too but they have very strict laws, (except copyright laws). Both places had massive amounts of Pirating of Software and other media. One of the main piracy places in Hong Kong was a store in a massive mall. They never had to hide it.

    Zotac started as a budget product company but they got past that and made some nice motherboards at good prices. I hope this works well for them.
    I bought Zotac's 4080 and I not only love the design of the card but the performance was fantastic!
    Reply
  • valthuer
    Gotta love PC Partner. My INNO3D GeForce RTX™ 4090 X3 OC, has been a beast.
    Reply
  • defunctup
    Sluggotg said:
    Now it is part of Communist China.
    you say that like it's a bad thing. China's tech sector is the largest and most efficient in the world. Zotac will lose any and all tech manufacturing benefits it had by moving to Singapore. there isn't a single nation or environment on this planet that rivals China's tech manufacturing innovation or speed. Maybe India, Indonesia, and possibly in the future Vietnam could catch up but China is so far ahead I doubt it will be in our lifetimes.
    Reply
  • circadia
    defunctup said:
    you say that like it's a bad thing. China's tech sector is the largest and most efficient in the world. Zotac will lose any and all tech manufacturing benefits it had by moving to Singapore. there isn't a single nation or environment on this planet that rivals China's tech manufacturing innovation or speed. Maybe India, Indonesia, and possibly in the future Vietnam could catch up but China is so far ahead I doubt it will be in our lifetimes.
    I mean, it is both a bad and a good thing... on one hand, yes, other countries like India and Vietnam will be catching up for a while, on another hand... politics and censorship, lol. And, even without those problems, some Chinese laws make it illegal for tech companies to make their tech more open. For example, back in 2022, the Chinese government made it illegal for any Chinese (or just any brands for that matter) phone brands to let their users unlock their phones' bootloaders, as seen in here: https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2022-12/15/content_5732079.htm
    Reply
  • Mattzun
    I’m surprised it took this long for someone in the GPU business to move out of China or at least have production facilities outside of China

    There have been stories on Apple’s decision to make more of its phones in India for two years now. The stories have noted the challenges involved

    If they are really ready to build 5090s, the prep has been underway for over a year.
    Reply
  • JDJJ
    Hold up..are you confusing GPUs with graphics cards? Because I wasn’t aware PC Partner (or it’s brands like Zotac) was in the business of making GPUs. I thought they were in the business of making add-in cards featuring Nvidia GPUs. Unless they make GPUs for industrial applications (which I could find no evidence of), it seems like you’ve conflated the two related but distinct things. I’m a little troubled that a tech journo for Tom’s Hardware doesn’t know the difference between a GPU and a graphics card. For standalone GPUs, the second largest GPU maker is AMD, preceded by Nvidia, with Intel coming in a distant third. (If you include APUs with integrated GPUs in the figures, Intel actually has over two thirds the GPU market, followed by AMD, then NVidia, so AMD is the second-largest GPU maker no matter how you slice it). In any case, I expect someone with a full time job writing about the subject to understand their subject and be precise in their language. That may be too much to expect these days, perhaps.
    Reply
  • JDJJ
    defunctup said:
    you say that like it's a bad thing. China's tech sector is the largest and most efficient in the world. Zotac will lose any and all tech manufacturing benefits it had by moving to Singapore. there isn't a single nation or environment on this planet that rivals China's tech manufacturing innovation or speed. Maybe India, Indonesia, and possibly in the future Vietnam could catch up but China is so far ahead I doubt it will be in our lifetimes.
    China is great at making dog bowls and plastic toys, or assembling other peoples electronics components, but they can’t make the components. Any tech they have is stolen. Or are you including Taiwan in your calculus? Lol, you’ve never had Taiwan, and you never will.

    And yes, Hong Kong being a part of Communist China is a bad thing.
    Reply