motherboards
Latest
Organized bandits make off with $12 million worth of PC components
In a daring early morning heist that could just as easily have been a scene from a movie like, um, The Heist, 20-plus well-organized robbers infiltrated a Malaysian warehouse complex on Monday, immediately subdued all 17 employees, and proceeded to steal over $12 million worth of microchips and motherboards. The thieves were able to gain access to the facility through a classic Trojan horse maneuver, wherein drivers of a truck that rolled up to the MASKargo Complex gate in Batu Maung, Penang tricked customs officials into believing that they were doing an undercover sweep for illegal immigrants. Once inside, the rest of the bandits lept out of the back of the vehicle and used chloroform to knock out the passive workers and sticks to beat down the non-compliant ones. It took the team nearly an hour to load up an astounding 18 pallets and 585 cartons full of components belonging to an unnamed multi-national corporation based out of Bayan Lepas, after which they sped off into the night with their valuable, high-tech booty. Police claim to have already captured two suspects in the case -- both were, shockingly , workers at the complex -- and are in the midst of hunting down the rest of the gang that pulled off what was clearly an inside job. As for the copious amount of missing PC hardware, officials speculate that the bandits will either sell them to shady OEMs on the black market, or, more likely, use them to build a supercomputer for leapfrogging to the top of the Folding@Home rankings.[Via The Inquirer]
Asustek and Gigabyte hold hands for joint motherboard venture
Apparently the world of motherboard manufacturing is a whole lot more political than you'd guess, and this new joint venture between motherboard giant Asustek and its smaller competitor Gigabyte has more twists and turns in it than an episode of The West Wing. They're going halvsies on a new company to produce lower-end motherboards in competition with rising star Hon Hai, which recently shot to number 2 in the motherboard world. The NT$8 billion venture ($244 million USD) is simultaneously an effort by Asustek to drop a competitor (Gigabyte) and a method of cost savings for Gigabyte, since production will likely be outsourced to Asustek. Gigabyte's motherboard and graphics card biz will be wholly swallowed by the new venture, and they'll hold 51 percent of the company, while concentrating on phones and other such devices with their Gigabyte brand. There, confused yet?[Via The Inquirer]
