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ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated (ASUS) (traditional Chinese: 華碩電腦股份有限公司; simplified Chinese: 华硕电脑股份有限公司; pinyin: Huáshuo Diànnaǒ Gufen Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) is a Taiwan-based multinational corporation, which produces motherboards, graphics cards, sound cards, optical disc drives, PDAs, computer monitors, laptops, servers, networking products, mobile phones, computer cases, computer components, and computer cooling systems. Commonly called by its brand name ASUS (usually pronounced /ɑːˈsuːs/, or /ˈeɪsəs/ in English-speaking countries), the company is listed on both the London Stock Exchange (LSE: ASKD) and the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE: 2357). As of 26 November 2009[update], 29.2% of PCs sold in the previous 12 months worldwide came with an ASUS motherboard.[3] The company's 2009 revenues reached US$21.2 billion.[2] ASUS appears in BusinessWeek’s "InfoTech 100" and "Asia’s Top 10 IT Companies" rankings. Wall Street Journal Asia ranks it number one in quality and service, and it leads the IT Hardware category of the 2008 Taiwan Top 10 Global Brands survey with a total brand value of US$1.324 billion.[4] ASUS also produces components for other manufacturers, such as:
[edit] Corporate information[edit] HistoryTH Tung, Ted Hsu, Wayne Hsieh, and MT Liao founded ASUS on 2 April 1990[1] in Taipei, Taiwan — all four founders worked as computer engineers for Acer. The company explains the name ASUS as originating from Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology.[5][6] The new organization used only the last four letters of the word in order to give the resulting name a high position in alphabetical listings.[7] In 2008, shipments from ASUS, ECS, Gigabyte, and MSI totaled 104.86 million units. ASUS led with 52 million units, followed by ECS with 20 million, MSI with 18 million, and Gigabyte with 16.6 million.[citation needed] [edit] Relationship with IntelIn the early 2000s, Taiwan-based motherboard manufacturers had not yet established their leading positions in the computer-hardware business. Intel Corporation would supply any new processors to more established companies like IBM first, and the Taiwanese companies would have to wait for approximately six months after IBM received their engineering prototypes.[8] When Intel released its 486 as engineering samples, an ASUS chief engineer named Joseph Uzelac decided to design a 486 motherboard without having a 486-processor engineering sample on site, using only the technical details published by Intel and the experience he had gained while making 386-compatible motherboards. When ASUS finalized its 486 motherboard prototype, they took it to Intel's base in Taiwan for testing. Unsurprisingly, they received no formal greeting when they arrived. It turned out that Intel's own 486 motherboard prototype had encountered design flaws, and Intel's engineers were rectifying it. The ASUS founders exercised their experience with the 486 and had a look at Intel's malfunctioning motherboard. Their solution worked, to the Intel engineers' surprise. Intel then tested the ASUS prototype, which functioned perfectly. This marked the beginning of an informal relationship between the two companies – as of 2009[update], ASUS receives Intel engineering samples ahead of its competitors.[8] ASUS has become one of the main supporters of Intel's Common Building Block initiatives. [edit] Corporate restructuringIn January 2007, ASUS started restructuring its operations.[9] The company split into three distinct operational units: ASUS, Pegatron and Unihan. The ASUS brand will apply solely to first-party branded computers. Pegatron will handle OEM manufacturing of motherboards and components. Unihan will focus on non-PC manufacturing such as cases and molding. In the process of restructuring, the highly criticized pension-plan restructuring effectively zeroed out the existing pension balances. The company paid out all contributions previously made by employees.[10] [edit] Open Handset AllianceOn 9 December 2008, the Open Handset Alliance announced that ASUSTek Computer Inc. had become one of 14 new members of the organization. These "new members will either deploy compatible Android devices, contribute significant code to the Android Open Source Project, or support the ecosystem through products and services that will accelerate the availability of Android-based devices."[11] [edit] Timeline
[edit] Manufacturing facilities and service centersAs of 2009[update] ASUS has manufacturing facilities in:
Asus claims a monthly production capacity of two million motherboards and 150,000 notebook computers.[22][verification needed] The ASUS Hi-Tech Park, located in Suzhou, China, covers 540,000 square meters, roughly the size of 82 soccer fields. ASUS operates 50 service sites in 32 countries and has over 400 service partners worldwide. It provides support in 37 languages. [edit] Sub-brands[edit] EeeSince its launch in October 2007, the Eee PC netbook has garnered numerous awards, including Forbes Asia’s Product of the Year[23], Stuff Magazine’s Gadget of the Year and Computer of the Year,[24] NBC.com’s Best Travel Gadget, Computer Shopper's Best Netbook of 2008, PC Pro's Hardware of the Year, PC World's Best Netbook, and DIME magazine’s 2008 Trend Award Winner. Asus's Essentio desktop - marketed as a home entertainment PC with an HDMI port, remote control and high gloss black finish - has been discontinued. Asus has since added several products to its Eee lineup, including:
On 6 March 2009, Asus debuted its Eee Box B202, which PCMag saw as "the desktop equivalent of the Asus EeePC".[25] With its price range between US$269 and US$299, this desktop competes directly with the Mac Mini.[26] [edit] Corporate responsibility[edit] Green ASUSIn 2000, Asus officially launched Green ASUS,[27] a company-wide sustainable computing initiative overseen by a steering committee led by Jonney Shih, the Chairman of ASUSTek Computer Inc. Green ASUS pursues what the company calls the "Four Green Home Runs", namely: "Green Design, Green Procurement, Green Manufacturing, and Green Service and Marketing".[28] [edit] Green ASUS measures
[edit] RecognitionIn 2006, ASUS obtained IECQ (IEC Quality Assessment System for Electronic Components) HSPM (Hazardous Substance Process Management) certification for its headquarters and for all of its manufacturing sites.[29] In 2007, Oekom Research, an independent research institute specializing in corporate responsibility assessment, recognized ASUS as a "highly environmental friendly company" in the "Computers, Peripherals and Office Electronics Industry".[30] In October 2008, ASUS received 11 EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) Gold Awards for its products,[31] including four of its N-Series notebooks, namely the N10, N20, N50 and N80. In the following month, it received EU Flower certification for the same N-Series notebooks at an award ceremony held in Prague.[30] In December 2008, Det Norske Veritas conferred the world’s first EuP (Energy-using Product) certification for portable notebooks on these machines.[30] [edit] Recycling campaignIn April 2008, ASUS launched its "PC Recycling for a Brighter Future"[32][33] program in collaboration with Intel and Tsann Kuen Enterprise Co. This program collected more than 1,200 desktop computers, notebooks and CRT/LCD monitors, refurbished them and donated them to 122 elementary and junior high schools, five aboriginal communities and the Tzu Chi Stem Cell Center. [edit] Pirated software and dissemination of confidential data
In September 2008, PC Pro discovered through a reader[34] that ASUS had shipped laptops that contained cracked and pirated software. Both physical machines and recovery CDs contained confidential documents from Microsoft and other organizations, internal ASUS documents, and sensitive personal information including CVs. At the time, an ASUS spokesperson promised an investigation at "quite a high level", but declined to comment on how the files got on the machines and recovery media.[35] The blogosphere provides details of how an unattended installation of Windows Vista accidentally copied material from a flash drive due to a parameter in the "unattend.xml" file on the personal flash drive used to script the installation.[36][37] [edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] External links
Categories: Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange | Companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange | Silicon Valley | Asus | Companies established in 1990 | Computer enclosure companies | Computer hardware companies | Graphics hardware companies | Display technology companies | Motherboard companies | Electronics companies of Taiwan | Taiwan brands | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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