Asus & Gigabyte merger?

At this point, both companies have said it's not going down, but there's at least talk of Asus and Gigabyte merging into one because of heavy competition from Foxconn, according to DigiTimes:

Asustek is aware of Foxconn's threat that comes from the EMS maker's large-scale financial support and intends to consolidate Gigabyte to secure its leading position in the motherboard industry, market sources observed. If Asustek merges with Gigabyte, the combined company's motherboard shipments may amount to 78 million units in 2006, the sources said. The merger will also help Asustek grab a 45% share of the worldwide motherboard market, by consolidating Gigabyte's strength in the distribution segment and enhancing its high-end portfolio in the own-brand business, the sources noted.

If that were to happen, the new company would be a real powerhouse. Still, at this point, it's best to take this rumor with some salt.

 

that would be sweet, Gigabyte has a lot of cool technologies, and is realiable, and Asus has a huge market already. It would be interesting

 

Hopefully they will bring the price down as well to catch the more market!

 

Looks like it happened.

Since the news necessitated a new thread, I'm closing this one.