Rumor | ASRock could be getting into graphics card production

ASRock is known to be mostly focusing on quality PC motherboard production and small form-factor PCs, but certain sources now claim that the Taiwanese company has already struck a deal with AMD in order to produce graphics cards. According to Tom’s Hardware, ASRock could be entering the graphics card market for laptops, as the chosen form-factor for the graphics cards seems to be the MXM (Mobile PCIe module). Chances for desktop discrete cards or custom cryptomining cards are slimmer, but not insignificant.

The MXM form-factor might have been chosen because it only requires minimal production costs, plus this type of cards require no cooling solutions compared to dedicated cards. Furthermore, the AMD partnership seems to make sense when considering the fact that graphics MXM modules are mainly outsourced by AMD currently. On the other hand, since ASRock is a SFF PC maker, it has to rely on third parties to get the MXM graphics cards, and this may prove counterproductive for the Taiwanese company.

There also are a few indications that ASRock could be getting into discrete graphics card manufacturing. First of all, the company is already making specialized cryptomining motherboards. Furthermore, AMD promised to ramp up the GPU production for 2018, and the ASRock partnership could help with this aspect. Last, but not least, specialized mining cards could see a considerable production cost decrease if the board size is shrunk, making them more attractive to miners, while restoring the GPU stocks for gamers.

If ASRock is indeed getting into discrete graphics card production, the only thing that would detract it from contributing to the alleviation of the current GPU crisis is the fact that its production capabilities are not really that extended compared to Asus and Gigabyte. However, every little bit helps, and AMD could have struck some deals with other smaller mobo makers, as well.

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