Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and Asrock set to deliver 38.8 million motherboards in 2024

[Skye Jacobs]

Recap: The motherboard market has been experiencing a sharp decline in sales since the pandemic, with 2022 being a particularly harsh year for the four major mobo makers. This year is expected to be vastly different though, with sales predicted to top the number of units sold in 2019. There are many reasons for this turnaround, including the delivery of AMD's new Ryzen 9000 and Intel's Arrow Lake desktop CPUs.

Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and Asrock – the four largest motherboard manufacturers – are projected to deliver 38.8 million units this year, according to a Digitimes report, marking a return to pre-pandemic sales levels. The last comparable figure being 37.6 million units sold in 2019.

Specifically, Asus is expected to deliver 15 million units; Gigabyte, 10.3 million; MSI, 9.3 million; and Asrock, 4.2 million – a record for the group.

It is a welcome return for the sector, which experienced significant drops in sales from 2020 through 2022 that started with the global pandemic. The decline in 2022 was particularly sharp, with a nearly 25% year-on-year decrease of ten million motherboard units, falling below even 2018 levels for most brands.

During this period, Asrock experienced the most severe decline, with shipments dropping by 55% from approximately 6 million units in 2021 to 2.7 million units in 2022. MSI also saw a substantial decrease of 42%, with shipments falling from 9.5 million units to 5.5 million units over the same period. Asus shipments decreased by 25%, from over 18 million units to 13.6 million units. Gigabyte had a relatively smaller decline of 14%, with shipments dropping from 11 million units to around 9.5 million units.

This drop was due to several factors, including workers returning to offices, thereby reducing demand for home computing equipment, and a downturn in the cryptocurrency market, which reduced demand for mining-related hardware.

Also, while new processors and motherboards came out in 2022 and 2023, PC buyers and DIY builders seemed to hold back on purchases, likely due to economic uncertainty. This year is expected to be different, with the anticipated release of new desktop processors in the second half of 2024 set to drive sales.

AMD's Ryzen 9000-series processors are set to launch on July 31, 2024, while Intel's Arrow Lake chips are expected in October. As such, new chipsets – X870 and X870E – for AMD processors and 800-series motherboards for Intel's new LGA1851 socket are being prepared, which are also expected to drive sales.

China's reopening of borders in 2023 after three years of travel restrictions is another significant factor in the recovery of the motherboard market. It has led to increased economic activity and mobility within the country and likely contributed to improved consumer confidence and increased willingness to spend on items like computers and motherboards. It also helped ease some of the disruptions affecting the production of electronic components, including those used in mobos.

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Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and Asrock set to deliver 38.8 million motherboards in 2024

 

[Xan the tech guy]

Really? No one's blaming some of it on the price of current motherboards. Specifically, the mother boards with QoL stuff like error code modules and/or X and Z based chipsets.
Still rocking a Maximus XI Hero here but I'll be rebuilding in a month to AM5 most likely. I've waited long enough.

 

[axiomatic13]

One of those brands I won't be buying. We all know who it is.

 

[Xan the tech guy]

One of those brands I won't be buying. We all know who it is.

Same. Been with Asus for about 35 years on my own builds only deviating once for Gigabyte (Gaming 7, 6700k) and the now-defunct Abit (old IC7-Max 3).
Back to Gigabyte or might try Asrock as they are no longer an Asus brand.
Maybe in a few years I'll feel confident in them once again.

 

[Marco Mint]

Same. Been with Asus for about 35 years on my own builds only deviating once for Gigabyte (Gaming 7, 6700k) and the now-defunct Abit (old IC7-Max 3).
Back to Gigabyte or might try Asrock as they are no longer an Asus brand.
Maybe in a few years I'll feel confident in them once again.

A Gigabyte is the only motherboard I owned that killed itself. Memory timings manual change, reboot and mobo=dead as a dodo. I kid you not. It just stood out and made me wary of them since. Maybe they're great..
Has a Z68 Asrock board that was very good. It's since taken up duties as my htpc and is still going well. All the rest were Asus. I'd probably still buy an Asus as I don't live in a 3rd world country and so have strong consumer protection laws that wont allow me as a consumer to pay for repairs. That burden falls on the seller of the products, not the manufacturer. I returned a dead GPU just shy of 2 years after buying it. Got a brand new upgraded one as a replacement, free of any charge, of course. That's just normal stuff here.

 

[Kn0xx]

Same. Been with Asus for about 35 years on my own builds only deviating once for Gigabyte (Gaming 7, 6700k) and the now-defunct Abit (old IC7-Max 3).
Back to Gigabyte or might try Asrock as they are no longer an Asus brand.
Maybe in a few years I'll feel confident in them once again.

I used MSI for sometime, and a bad experience in the past with Gigabyte.
On AM5 I switched to Asrock B650 Pro RS... I'm must say ... it sure works. the only thing is that their BIOS UI its really basic, and not that nice to see compared to Asus/Msi and Gigabyte that shows a more refined experience.
But in the end, It works flawlessly and that is what matters... on the MSI (B450) that I had with lastest bios version, the BIOS was not consistent, and had some issues tinkering with vcore/memory timmings not saving.
Gigabyte, was one that had a lot of degrading performance over time... I dont know if now are better...

 

[daffy duck]

One of those brands I won't be buying. We all know who it is.

I don't know: Asucks, Gigashite, AsCrock, More Shitty Instability

Who does that leave. MB makers are all a joke today.

 

[axiomatic13]

I don't know: Asucks, Gigashite, AsCrock, More Shitty Instability

Who does that leave. MB makers are all a joke today.

To be honest. I have liked MSI motherboards lately because their custom software became a UWP app, and it doesn't get flagged by anti-cheat software because of it. That's better than the rest, I think?

 

[Xan the tech guy]

To be honest. I have liked MSI motherboards lately because their custom software became a UWP app, and it doesn't get flagged by anti-cheat software because of it. That's better than the rest, I think?

35 years of building, I've built a few with MSI for buddies and one nephew. That said, I've seen some bad ones and my best friend was an MSI diehard til a year or so ago.
I have yet to see a Gigabyte (built a total of three, one being for myself the build before my current ROG) or Asus fail. I'm just burnt by asus current antics between the whole overvoltage fiasco and their subsequent responses this past year. Same with Intel's current woes and to a lesser extent, Nvidia.
I'm going AM5 next month (already bought a 7800XT last month anyway) on Gigabyte or Asrock most likely. It's time to replace my still beefy yet aging 5 yo rig.
Currently on....
I7 9700k, ROG Hero XI Maximus, 32gb Trident Z Royal bling ram, ROG 2070 Super (replaced), Seasonic Prime Titanium 850w, Samsung 970 Evo 1 tb, and Cooler Master ML 360 with 3 extra fans in the original Lian-Li 0-11 Dynamic.