Gigabyte Technology vice president of motherboard business Henry Kao, at the recent USB-IF forum, pointed out that the company expects to ship a total of five million USB 3.0 motherboards by the end of 2010, which will account for 25-35% of the company's total brand motherboard shipments, while Asustek Computer vice president Tony Chen noted that the company will see 25-35% of the notebooks it expects to ship in 2010 support USB 3.0.
Kao pointed out that Gigabyte currently only offers USB 3.0 support in its Intel X58-, P55- and H57-based motherboards as well as AMD 790FX, 790X and 800-series products.
On the other hand, Chen noted that the company will initially adopt USB 3.0 in its high-end and mid-range notebooks including the company's N, U and G-series, and the company currently has 10-15 models which already support USB 3.0. The company expects to start adopting USB 3.0 in its entry-level models in early 2011.
Asustek will also launch the Eee PC 1018P, 1016P and 1015PE with USB 3.0 support and EB1501U Eee Box.
NEC is currently the major USB 3.0 chip supplier with an average price at around US$10-15, but as ASMedia and VIA Technologies are both ready to launch related solutions in the second half of 2010 which is expected to push average prices to below US$8, sources from notebook players noted.
The sources also cited IDC figures said that 45% of mobile PCs shipped in 2012 will natively support USB 3.0.
