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Micro-Star International Co., Ltd (MSI; ) is a Taiwanese multinational information technology corporation headquartered in
New Taipei City New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, b ...
,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
. It designs, develops and provides
computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These prog ...
hardware, related products and services, including laptops, desktops, motherboards, graphics cards, All-in-One PCs, servers, industrial
computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These prog ...
s, PC
peripheral A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the ...
s, car
infotainment Infotainment (a portmanteau of ''information'' and ''entertainment''), also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of inf ...
products, etc. The company has a primary listing on the
Taiwan Stock Exchange The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation (TWSE; ) is a financial institution, located in Taipei 101, in Taipei, Taiwan. The TWSE was established in 1961 and began operating as a stock exchange on 9 February 1962. It is regulated by the Financia ...
and was established on August 4, 1986 by 5 founders – Hsu Xiang (a.k.a. Joseph Hsu), Huang Jinqing (a.k.a. Jeans Huang), Lin Wentong (a.k.a. Frank Lin), Yu Xian'nengyu (a.k.a. Kenny Yu), and Lu Qilong (a.k.a. Henry Lu). First starting its business in
New Taipei City New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, b ...
,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
, MSI later expanded into
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
, setting up its Bao'an Plant in
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern provi ...
in 2000 and establishing
research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
facilities in
Kunshan Kunshan is a county-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province with Shanghai bordering its eastern border and Suzhou on its western boundary. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Suzhou. Name There is a stron ...
in 2001. It also provides global warranty service in North America, Central/South America, Asia, Australia and Europe. The company has been a sponsor for a number of
esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional sports, professional players, individually or as ...
teams and is also the host of the international gaming event MSI Masters Gaming Arena (formerly known as MSI Beat IT). The earliest Beat IT tournament can be traced back to 2010, featuring Evil Geniuses winning the championship.


Operations

MSI's offices in
Zhonghe District Zhonghe District (, Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tiong-hô Khu), also spelled Chūwa and Jhonghe, is an inner city district in New Taipei City in northern Taiwan. Geography and climate Zhonghe lies just south-west of Taipei City and shares borders with Banqi ...
,
New Taipei City New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, b ...
,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
serve as the company's headquarters, and house a number of different divisions and services. Manufacturing initially took place at plants in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
, but has been moved elsewhere. Many MSI graphics cards are manufactured at its plant in China. The company has branch offices in the
Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...
,
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
and
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
. As of 2015, the company has a global presence in over 120 countries.


Products

The company first built its reputation on developing and manufacturing
computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These prog ...
motherboard A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...
s and graphics cards. It established its subsidiary FUNTORO in 2008 for the vehicle
infotainment Infotainment (a portmanteau of ''information'' and ''entertainment''), also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of inf ...
market. It provides many computer and tech oriented products including
laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...
s, desktops,
monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West ...
s, motherboards, graphics cards, power supply products, computer cases and liquid cooler for gamers and content creators, all-in-one PCs, mobile workstations, servers, IPCs, multimedia peripherals, vehicle infotainment, and an autonomous mobility robot. When established in 1986, MSI focused on the design and manufacturing of motherboards and add-on cards. Later that year, it introduced the first over clockable 286 motherboard. In 1989, MSI introduced its first
486 __NOTOC__ Year 486 (Roman numerals, CDLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Basilius and Longinus (or, less freq ...
motherboard; in 1990 it introduced its first
Socket 7 Socket 7 is a physical and electrical specification for an x86-style CPU socket on a personal computer motherboard. It was released in June 1995. The socket supersedes the earlier Socket 5, and accepts P5 Pentium microprocessors manufactured by ...
based motherboard, and in 1993, its first 586 motherboard; in 1995, its Dual Pentium Pro-based motherboard. In 1997 it introduced its Intel
Pentium II The Pentium II brand refers to Intel's sixth-generation microarchitecture (" P6") and x86-compatible microprocessors introduced on May 7, 1997. Containing 7.5 million transistors (27.4 million in the case of the mobile Dixon with 256  K ...
-based motherboard with Intel MMX Technology, along with its first graphics card product, and its first barebone product; in 2002, its first PC2PC Bluetooth & WLAN motherboard. In 2000, MSI introduced its first
set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of s ...
product (MS-5205). In 2003, its first Pen Tablet PC product (PenNote3100), and in 2004, its first Notebook product (M510C). In 2009, MSI introduced its first Ultra Slim Notebook (X320), and first All-in-One PC (AP1900). MSI released their first digital audio player in 2003, in a line called MEGA. In 2008, MSI sponsored Fnatic and dived into the PC gaming market. Its GAMING series features laptops, desktops,
motherboard A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...
s, graphic cards, All-in-One PCs and gaming
peripheral A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the ...
s designed for gamers and power users. In 2015, MSI teamed up with eye-tracking tech firm Tobii for the creation of eye-tracking gaming laptops. In early 2016, MSI announced a collaboration with HTC and has revealed Vive-ready systems to offer Virtual Reality experiences. MSI expanded its scope of business into Content Creation in 2018 and demonstrated creator-centric laptops at IFA 2018. MSI Optix MPG27CQ Gaming Monitor was the recipient of the 27th Taiwan Excellence Gold & Silver Awards.


History

MSI's five founders Joseph Hsu, Jeans Huang, Frank Lin, Kenny Yu and Henry Lu all worked for Sony electronics company before establishing MSI. Sony's corporate downsizing in 1985 brought them together. With the engineering background working for Sony, they established Micro Star International together in August 1986. In 1997, MSI inaugurated its Plant I in Zhonghe; in 2000, it inaugurated its Plant III in Zhonghe. In 1998, it became a public company with an IPO (Initial Public Offering) on the Taipei Stock Exchange (
TAIEX The Taiwan Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX; ) or TWSE Capitalization Weighted Stock Index is a stock market index for companies traded on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE). TAIEX covers all of the listed stocks excluding preferred stock ...
). In 2000, MSI Computer (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. was founded, and in 2001, MSI Electronics (Kunshan) Co., Ltd. In 2002, MSI set up its European logistics center in the Netherlands. In 2003, MSi released the "Mega PC", a
shelf stereo A shelf stereo, also stereo, micro component system or mini component system, is a compact stereo system. They are usually both small enough to fit on an average shelf (hence their name) and sold with all of their necessary components packaged to ...
computer hybrid with a front panel resembling the former and desktop computer connectors on the rear. In 2008, MSI was ranked among the Top 20 Taiwan Global Brands. In 2011, the firm was named one of the Top 100 Taiwan Brands, distinguished among 500 brands. By 2013, MSI has been awarded from Taiwan Excellence for 15 consecutive years. In 2015, MSI was ranked the fourth-best laptop brand of 2015 by ''Laptop'' magazine. According to research, MSI was the largest gaming laptop supplier worldwide in 2016. MSI launched "Join the Dragon" team sponsorship program in April 2017 to discover talented eSports teams. Also in April 2017, MSI names certified partners for the creation of an RGB ecosystem with MSI Mystic Light Sync which includes
Corsair A corsair is a privateer or pirate, especially: * Barbary corsair, Ottoman and Berber pirates and privateers operating from North Africa * French corsairs, privateers operating on behalf of the French crown Corsair may also refer to: Arts and ...
,
SteelSeries SteelSeries (styled as steelseries) is a Danish manufacturer of gaming peripherals and accessories, including headsets, keyboards, mice, controllers, and mousepads. SteelSeries was acquired by GN Store Nord in 2021. History SteelSeries was foun ...
,
G.Skill G.SKILL International Enterprise is a Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturing company. The company's target customers are overclocking computer users. It produces a variety of high-end PC products and is best known for its DRAM products. Histo ...
,
Cooler Master Cooler Master Technology Inc. is a computer hardware manufacturer based in Taiwan. Founded in 1992, the company produces computer cases, power supplies, air and liquid CPU coolers, laptop cooling pads, and computer peripherals. Alongside its ...
,
InWin In Win Development, Inc. (), formerly rendered as In-Win Development and commonly shortened to In Win or InWin, is a Taiwanese computer case and computer power supply manufacturer. In Win was founded in 1985 and has since opened multiple factories ...
,
Phanteks Phanteks is a Dutch company which mainly produces PC cases, fans and other case accessories. The company has a base in the United States. History Phanteks currently is known for their award winning PC cases. Phanteks's first product was the P ...
, and others. Mustek and MSI sign laptop distribution deal in 2017. ESL has partnered with MSI for upcoming ESL One events in 2018. MSI was the official partner of ESL One Cologne 2018, one of the biggest events on the CS:GO calendar. In August 2018, MSI was rated the Best Gaming Laptop Brand of 2018 by Laptop Mag. New designs of its GS65 Stealth Thin and GE63 Raider RGB laptops earned the company a stellar 84 out of 100 and put it on the top spot. Method eSports organization joined forces with MSI in August 2018. MSI partnered with ESL to bring MGA 2018 grand finals to New York. Kazakhstan's AVANGAR won the Championship. MSI & Ubisoft jointly presented Ambient Link synchronized game lighting on Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Tom Clancy's The Division 2 in 2019. In September 2020, MSI unveiled a new line of business-oriented laptops under the "Modern", "Prestige", and "Summit" lines, and a new logo specific to these models. On 7 October 2020 MSI released a public statement about their subsidiary Starlit scalping MSI made
Nvidia Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
RTX 3080 and 3090
GPUs A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobil ...
, and selling them for higher than MSRP on
eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
.


Sponsorship

The company once partnered with
eSports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...
heavyweights Fnatic and Cloud 9. It has also been a sponsor for a number of eSports teams worldwide, including METHOD, PENTA Sports, Energy eSports, HWA Gaming, yoe Flash Wolves, NXA-Ladies, Saigon Fantastic Five, MSI-Evolution, Vox Eminor, DeToNator, Team Infused, Aperture Gaming, Phoenix GaminG, Karmine Corp, Aiolikos FC, etc. MSI announced partnership with Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP in February 2022 to support the team with PC hardware throughout the MotoGP season.


Controversy

During the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, MSI refused to join the international community and withdraw from the Russian market. Research from
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
updated on September 14, 2022, identifying how companies were reacting to Russia's invasion identified MSI in the worst category of "Digging In", meaning Defying Demands for Exit: companies defying demands for exit/reduction of activities. MSI remains the only major Taiwanese company to have defied demands for exit or reduction of activities in Russia. MSI issued a statement on March 28, 2022, claiming that it abides by all international regulations in terms of its sales and operations in Russia.


See also

*
List of companies of Taiwan Taiwan maintains a stable industrial economy as a result of economic growth and industrialization during the late 20th century, being dubbed as one of the Four Asian Tigers along with Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea. It is a member of both ...


References


External links

* {{Coord, 25.006954, N, 121.486846, E, region:TW_scale:2000, display=title Companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange Computer hardware companies Electronics companies of Taiwan Graphics hardware companies Manufacturing companies based in New Taipei Motherboard companies Multinational companies headquartered in Taiwan Netbook manufacturers Portable audio player manufacturers Taiwanese brands Taiwanese companies established in 1986 Computer enclosure companies Computer power supply unit manufacturers Computer hardware cooling Micro-Star International