ASRock, an Asustek Computer subsidiary with its own brand, is said to have announced a massive price cut on some of its products last week in the European clone market, quoting its motherboards at near-cost prices, according to motherboard makers.

Citing their channel vendors in Europe, motherboard sources said that ASRock last week released its new product quotes, announcing a price discount of more than 10% on its motherboards based on Pentium 4 chipsets from VIA Technologies. According to the vendors, ASRock’s P4X266A and P4M266A-based boards are now priced at US$36-37, which is not only lower than their previous quotes of US$41-42 but also close to the average motherboard production cost.

Given the near-cost pricing, many second-tier board makers, though anticipating the sales impact from ASRock’s new quotes, have been hesitant to follow suit and have kept their prices at US$41-43, motherboard sources said.

ASRock’s aggressive price cut was likely triggered by the company’s plan to clear out inventories in the off-peak season, motherboard makers said, but generally competition in the older P4 motherboard market has been escalating with the upcoming launch of Intel’s 865 (Springdale) products and VIA’s increasing shipments of its P4 chipsets after its settlement with Intel on April 7.

Board makers said that first-tier companies, such as Asustek and Micro-Star International (MSI), recently also announced more competitive prices on some of their 845 series products. The 845D-based boards from the two companies are currently quoted at US$43-45.

Source: Digitimes