Taiwanese technology giant Micro-Star International has a pan Asia influence and is a IT multinational headquartered in Taipei City. The company deals in the development and production of computer hardware, and related products such as desktops, motherboards, servers and graphics cards. The company is listed on the Taiwanese Stock Exchange. Founded in 1986 by five entrepreneurs, the company has since grown to command considerable market share both within and outside Taiwan.
Humble Beginnings
The founding members of the company are Joseph Hsu, Jeans Huang, Frank Lin, Kenny Yu and Henry Lu. MSI’s five founders worked for Sony before quitting and founding MSI. Sony’s downsizing in 1985 brought the group together, and they pooled in their engineering experience to create MSI in August of 1986. The company opened its first plant in Jung-He city in 1997 and three years later opened another one in Jung-He city. In a bid to raise money for expansion, MSI went public in 1998 on the Taiwanese Stock Exchange. The company found subsidiaries MSI Computer in 2000, and MSI Electronics a year later. They followed this up by opening their logistics center in Netherlands.
Early Days and Products
The company built a name for itself by developing state-of-the-art motherboards and graphic cards. FUNTORO, which is a subsidiary to MSI took shape in 2008 as a wing of the company focusing on vehicle infotainment system. That wing now manufactures multimedia peripherals, vehicle infotainment systems and even Autonomous Mobility Robots. During their early years, MSI mainly focused on the design of motherboards and auxiliary cards. That same year, they hit the market with the world’s first over-clockable 286 motherboard.
Three years later, they introduced their 486 motherboard; following it up four years later with a 586 and then a Dual Pentium motherboard. In 1997, MSI launched their Pentium II-based motherboard and MMX, their first graphics card. They upgraded to a Bluetooth and WLAN motherboard in 2002. In 2002, they came out with a set-top box, in 2003, a Pen Tablet and a year later launched a Notebook. They followed this up with an Ultra Slim Notebook and All-in-One PC in 2009.
Aggressive Expansion
The founding five began operations in New Taipei before expanding to Mainland China. The first step of the expansion came in 2000, in the form of setting up a factory in Shenzhen. The company then established a Research and Development facility in Kunshan the next year. Since then, MSI has expanded and now provides services in North America, Central and South America, Europe and Australia.
The company also famously hosts the international gaming event called MSI Masters Gaming Arena or MSI Beat IT. The event began way back in 2010, culminating with Evil Geniuses winning the trophy. The company is headquartered in Zhonghe District, while most of the manufacturing takes place in factories spread all over Taiwan. As a part of their aggressive expansion, the company also owns offices in Europe, Australia and South Africa. They now boast of having a presence in more than 120 countries, across both the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa.
Entering the Gaming Industry
However, the biggest change came in 2008, when they entered the PC gaming market by launching and sponsoring Fnatic. Their gaming series featured desktops, graphic cards and gaming peripherals which quickly captured the market. They partnered with Tobii in 2015 to design and develop eye-tracking gaming laptops. A year later, they collaborated with HTC to create Virtual Reality experiences. They got into the field of Content Creation in 2018 by launching creator-centric laptops.
Achievements and Further Growth of MSI
MSI ended 2008 within the top 20 of the best Taiwanese Global Brands and followed it up three years later by coming in at number one. By 2013, MSI had been awarded the honour of Taiwan Excellence for fifteen straight years. They were also ranked four on a global list of the best laptops in the world in 2015. Thanks to all these achievements their global market share increased rapidly, and by 2016, they had become the largest gaming laptop supplier.
Being a cinephile with a love for all things outdoorsy, Athulya never misses a chance to chase inspiring stories or poke fun at things, even when the subject is herself. Currently pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering, she is someone innately interested in technical and scientific research. Music reviews and op-eds define her as they allow her to explore different perspectives. Though sometimes she thinks she makes more sense playing the guitar than she does while writing.