Asus, a Taiwan-based multinational company, is known worldwide for manufacturing computer hardware and electronics. It has launched a vast range of smartphones, desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablets, networking equipment, and even, GPs devices. The company has reached apex for manufacturing ‘the best’ motherboard in the entire world, and also especially, by launching the Republic of Gamers, in 2006.
Asus was founded in 2nd April 1989 by Ted Hsu, M.T. Liao, Wayne Tsiah and T.H. Tung. The company has its headquarters in Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan. In these 30 years of trade, the company has created a revolution in the IT industry with its impeccable designs and quality products.
History of the company
Before Asus was formed, the four founders worked together in Acer as hardware engineers. The company started with just the conversation over a coffee, and a strong passion to create something of their own. Right after the company was founded, they created their own motherboard using an Intel 486. It worked completely fine, despite even Intel faced issues with their own 486 motherboards. The first success of creating a motherboard was really an achievement, and starting from then, Asus received Intel’s prototypes before it reached any other competitors. Asus also launched Cache 386/33 motherboards in the same year.
In 1990, the company launched the most popular and widely used motherboard in the world, EISA 486. These motherboards were used in IBM and ALR products. The launch of these high-quality tech products helped Asus secure an admirable position in the world of IT companies. In 1992, Asus unveiled the 32-bit SCSI interface that incorporated IC software and in the very year, the company established a formal partnership with Intel. The company developed advanced Intel Pentium (586) motherboard, in the year 1993, and by 1995, Asus became the leading producer of motherboards throughout the world. In the same year, the company launched the first Asus dual socket Intel Pentium motherboard.
By this time, the company was expanding rapidly, and especially, under the supervision of Jonney Shih, the Chairperson of Asus, the company started focusing mainly on more advanced designing. He made a noteworthy investment in R&D to develop new technologies and take the company much ahead of its competitors. In 1996, Asus launched motherboards that have supported both single and dual Pentium CPUs and became a public company on Taiwan Stock Exchange. In 1997, Asus launched its first notebook which was followed by the invention of Intel Pentium II motherboards, in 1998. Since, Asus expanded the business beyond Taiwan, in the year 2000, it established various service centres in the Netherlands, United States, Czech Republic, Australia and Japan.
In 2001, The Asus Royal Club Association was formed to provide 24/7 customer care and technical support. In the same year, the company launched Asus CUSL2-C Black Pearl (all-black PCB motherboard). In 2002, Asus launched Asus MyPal A600A, a PDA that supports Intel 400MHz PXA250 CPU.
In the next year, the company launched its first 3G flip phone followed by Asus W1, world’s first notebook with an in-built TV tuner and many other extravagant facilities in 2004. In 2004, the company also became the world’s leading VGA display maker. Asus also launched three-RAID dual-LAN and fist multi-GPU motherboards in the same year. In 2005, the company launched its first environment-friendly motherboard and first laptop with an in-built webcam.
In 2006, apart from focusing on various electronic product lines, the company developed a sub-brand known as the Republic of Gamers (ROG). A separate committee was built to look into ROG to bring a revolution in the gaming world and provide gamers with cutting-edge products and the best experience of gaming. So, the new motherboard was launched exclusively for the gaming enthusiasts, and since then, a series of products has been built under ROG.
In January 2006, Asus came in partnership with Lamborghini to built VX laptop series. On the same year, Asus also announced a collaboration with Gigabyte Technology. The launch of Eee PC, in 2007, brought immense success to the company, including many international awards. The company also released its first camera, gaming notebooks, external graphics card dock, and many modified motherboards under the sub-brand ROG. In 2008, Eee PC was named product of the year by Forbes India. In this year, Asus launched its cloud service and more power efficient motherboards. In 2010, the company released the world’s first halogen-free LCD monitor and many other products under the Eee PC and ROG.
Position of the Company Today
Currently, Asus sells a wide range of smartphones (ZenFone), tablets, laptops, GPS devices etc. In 2016, the company set a record of winning 4,385 awards, and it was also named World’s most admired companies by Fortune magazine. The company earned approximately US$13.3 billion in revenue in the same year. The company also changed its taglines quite a few times and is now settled with ‘In Search of Incredible’. The success of Asus had made Taiwan one of the predominant IT hubs in the entire world. And, with a current asset of more than $333.6 billion and 1,500 employees, the company maintains its uniqueness and marches forward to achieve perfection.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more