PC Giant Asustek Sets Up Game Companies on Mainland
Asustek is transforming as PC sales fall and the industry enters its sunset. According to Taiwanese reports, one of Asustek’s transformational directions is gaming and e-sports.
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The Asustek board recently approved a plan to enter the gaming industry, according to the Taiwan’s DIGITIMES. Asustek will invest $16 million to create a gaming industry subsidiary on the Chinese mainland and focus on the emerging e-sports markets.
The subsidiary will develop an e-sports ecosystem that will enhance connection with gaming enthusiasts. The subsidiary will also create a team named Rogue Warriors in Shanghai to participate in competitions.
Last year, Asustek conducted a serious reorganization of its business and teams. It started to withdraw from poor performing fields, such as tablets and desktops, and to focus on laptops and gaming computers.
Asustek’s other direction is online gaming. Industry sources say Asustek expects to achieve some results in the second half of this year.
According to the report, Asustek has launched a line of gaming hardware, including computers, video cards, displays, headsets, keyboards, sound cards and mice. It plans to release chairs, clothing accessories and other products in the future.
Asustek previously sponsored some e-sports and partnered with game broadcaster Twitch and sports TV station ESPN.
Last year, market reports released by IDC and Gartner showed that most companies, with the exception of HP, saw declining PC sales. The global PC market has been falling since 2011. Asustek and Acer, two Taiwanese companies, had especially poor performance, down 10 percent.
Industry analysts said Asustek should merge with Acer to battle giants such as HP and Lenovo. However, executives said differing corporate cultures will make the two companies extremely hard to merge.
The combined share of Asustek and Acer PC sales is the same as a single first-tier manufacturer: one Dell, HP or Lenovo.
Last year, Japanese media reported that Asustek was competing with Lenovo to purchase Toshiba’s laptop business, but Toshiba denied the reports.
There is no doubt that Asustek and Acer will be in danger if they continue to struggle in the PC market without looking for other avenues.
Asustek attempted to enter the smartphone market, but it arrived too late. Asus later focused on the Indian mobile phone market, but it also faced tough competition with handset makers on the Chinese mainland. Chinese brands occupy more than half of India’s handset market.
