Foxconn Inc., also known as Hon Hai Precision Co. Ltd., said this week that it will enter the motherboard market with its own branded products, competing to some extent with its own customers.
Hon Hai, a $10 billion firm and Taiwan's largest private manufacturer, shopped approximately 26 million motherboards last year to its customers, which resold them under its own brand name, according to Ed Leckliter, director of channel products for Foxconn, the U.S. arm of Hon Hai. As its name implies, Foxconn is mainly known for its connectors and cable assemblies.
This year, however, Foxconn intends to sell roughly 3 million motherboards under its own name to customers throughout the world, Linkliter said.
"We're a very aggressive company," Linkliter said. "We have revenue expectations, and we needed to expand our product line to meet them."
As the year progresses, Foxconn hopes to work more closely with traditional retailers, Linkliter said. However, end users may still have access to the new boards through relationships Foxconn's CasEdge computer chassis line has with Fry's Electronics, as well as through PC Club, which serves both as a system integrator and retailer.
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