Asus makes an offer to buy Asrock

[Lil' ½ Dead]

Word has reached SemiAccurate that Asus just made a bid for Asrock’s mobo division. The motherboard leader is about to buy the fast growing upstart out before they get too large.

Currently word has it that an offer has been made for Asrock, and Pegatron is essentially fine with the terms. This would take the #1 and #3 mobo makers and combine them, leaving the industry with one massive behemoth, one solid player, and a lot of minnows struggling to make waves. As of now, there is a first tier of Asus and Gigabyte, then Asrock, MSI, and ECS at less than half of that volume, plus a few niche players in the motherboard market.


If this buyout goes through, there would be a singular AsusRock as the first tier, Gigabyte as the second, and a third tier without the pricing leverage to compete. The already unhealthy industry would likely collapse into two players before people realized what happened.


There are a lot of secondary players, suppliers,and related companies both upstream and downstream of this sector. All of them would likely be affected adversely if this goes through, Given the two players involved, Asus and Pegatron, is there anyone with an ability to make a better offer left? Would anyone want to? This one is not finished yet, but it may be soon. The only thing for sure is that it is going to be quite interesting to watch the deal unfold

http://semiaccurate.com/2012/09/28/a...to-buy-asrock/

[xelosia]

Thanks for posting its starting to get more interesting in the motherboard manufacturing industry

[Cyberburnout]

I can only pray this deal doesnt happen. We need the competition in the market place to hold prices down and to push innovation. If there is only 1 or 2 competitors in the mobo market prices will increase and product cycle releases will stall with less innovation being needed to maintain market share. If Asus wants to buy a company they should go look at the smaller companies like ECS. Ecs makes a good product but have failed to capture any attention from modders and enthusitest. ASrock on the other hand has really thurst themselves out in the forefront of the market place making the bigger fish take notice and improve thier products to maintain the leadership role. That is great for the end users like us.

Please get blocked or rejected. Pegatron should reject this deal since now they know Asus is worried and purchase ECS or another smaller mobo making to really but the fear of god in Asus and gigabyte.

[najiro]

AsusRock LOL. I hope this doesn't happen as well. Having more competitors will create a more balanced and fair market.

[realneil]

I like both ASUS and ASRock,...but not together.
Both of them make quality boards with a lot of cutting edge features, and I like the competition between them.
It makes for interesting choices and better prices for us consumers.

A merger between them would suck.

[TeeBlack]

i have both Asus and Asrock motherboards and love them both. I too hope the deal doesnt go through to benefit the consumers in the end.

[SamCR3]

I like both ASUS and ASRock,...but not together.
Both of them make quality boards with a lot of cutting edge features, and I like the competition between them.
It makes for interesting choices and better prices for us consumers.

A merger between them would suck.

i have both Asus and Asrock motherboards and love them both. I too hope the deal doesnt go through to benefit the consumers in the end.

+1000. Megers rarely if ever benefit the consumer or foster innovation.

[realneil]

+1000. Megers rarely if ever benefit the consumer or foster innovation.

A merger is a good way for one company to eliminate another company that makes them sweat, or lose sleep at night.
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with ASUS boards, ASRock has been a rising star in the industry for quite some time.
ASUS may be feeling the pressure,..........

[Doctor_Death]

With ASRock having one of the best Z77 boards out there, it's no surprise that this is happening.

[aryan51]

yup this will suck

[MattyMatt]

For the last few years, ASRock has been making solid boards with great features for less than GB or Asus and I guess thats why they are afraid.

[JMPC]

I guess it depends on what they do with them. They have competing products so something's going to have to get cut. ASRock isn't just about low cost like when they first hit the market so I don't know where ASUS would position them or if they would try and keep them as a lower cost alternative in their line of mobos. Personally I'd rather keep them separate companies.

[Drdeath]

Didn't ASUSTEK start Pegatron years ago?

[Drdeath]

I like both ASUS and ASRock,...but not together.
Both of them make quality boards with a lot of cutting edge features, and I like the competition between them.
It makes for interesting choices and better prices for us consumers.

A merger between them would suck.

Gigabyte would benefit. All Asus will do is buy ASRock's marketshare but not all of it. ASRock has been taking Asus marketshare as of late with their Z77, X58 offerings.

[Solara2xb]

Yea, ASRock has been really stepping up there game in the last few years... There new Z77 series boards really kick a$$..
Also I think Jim meant X79 not X58. lolz... Jim.. need to wear them glasses...

I thought also at one point Asus did own Asrock??

[vinman]

Didn't ASUSTEK start Pegatron years ago?

Thats what I thought as well