Universal Abit

Universal ABIT Co., Ltd (formerly ABIT Computer Corporation) was a computer components manufacturer, based in Taiwan, active since the 1980s. Its core product line were motherboards aimed at the overclocker market.

ABIT experienced serious financial problems in 2005. The brand name "ABIT" and other intangible properties, including patents and trademarks, were acquired by Universal Scientific Industrial Co., Ltd. (USI) in May 2006.^[1] The brand name was discontinued on 31 March 2009.^[2]

ABIT was founded in 1989. In 1991, the company had become the fastest growing motherboard manufacturer, claiming US$10 million in sales.^[3] In 2000, ABIT underwent an initial public offering (IPO) on the TAIEXstock exchange. To keep pace with their "good" sales figures, they opened a factory in Suzhou, China, and moved to new headquarters in Neihu, Taipei. The number of motherboards sold was claimed to have doubled between 2000 and 2001.

Abit chose to outsource two low-end boards for trial production from June 2002 to Elitegroup Computer Systems.^[4] Confirmation of the outsourcing move was made public in July 2002, accounting for 10% of Abit's motherboard shipments for the first model, and by August 2002, this would increase to 15-20% for the second model, for the company's niche products, such as servers and routers, Abit's factory in Taoyuan, Taiwan factory will then serve as their base.^[5][6]

Abit sufrió un revés en marzo de 2003, cuando Oskar Wu, un ingeniero líder en la famosa placa base ABIT NF7-S, renunció después de la serie NForce para convertirse en jefe de la gama LANParty en la empresa competidora DFI . ^{[ 7 ]}

El 15 de diciembre de 2004, la Bolsa de Valores de Taiwán rebajó la calificación de las acciones de ABIT debido a prácticas contables cuestionables. Las investigaciones revelaron que la mayor parte de su negocio de importación/exportación se realizaba a través de siete empresas, todas ubicadas en la misma dirección y cada una con un capital de tan solo 2 dólares de Hong Kong. ^{[ 8 ]} Esto facilitó la manipulación de las cifras declaradas de placas base vendidas. Los medios de comunicación de Hong Kong también informaron que la gerencia estaba siendo investigada por malversación de fondos de la empresa. ^{[ 9 ]}

En junio de 2005, ABIT se asoció con Wan Hai Industries. Esta empresa de transporte marítimo de contenedores , también inversor principal en China Airlines , aportó a la empresa el capital que tanto necesitaba, ^{[ 10 ]} ya que la empresa tenía problemas financieros en ese momento, en parte debido a una demanda colectiva relacionada con condensadores defectuosos en sus productos, ^{[ 11 ]} pero también debido a la comercialización de productos altamente técnicos al público en general, ofreciendo garantías más largas que el promedio y generosas políticas de devolución .

El 25 de enero de 2006, ABIT anunció que USI tenía la intención de comprar el negocio de placas base y la marca de ABIT Computer, y anunció una junta extraordinaria de accionistas para discutir la venta del edificio de ABIT en Neihu, el cambio de nombre de la empresa, la disposición de los activos de la empresa y la liberación de los directores de las restricciones de no competencia . ^{[ 12 ] [ 13 ]} ABIT vendió su propio edificio de oficinas en Taipéi a Deutsche Bank para obtener fondos para reducir su deuda. ^{[ 14 ]}

Tras la adquisición del negocio de placas base por parte de USI, las divisiones restantes de ABIT se dedicaron a la distribución de componentes y productos de red , utilizando su planta de Suzhou , China, únicamente para ofrecer algunos servicios de fabricación de placas base por contrato.

The acquired motherboard business and the 'ABIT' brand name were used by USI under the new brand name Universal Abit. In the US, it was known as Universal Abit USA Corporation. The old company, ABIT Computer Corporation (USA), is now dissolved and is no longer in existence.^[15]

Universal Abit later announced that it would close on 31 December 2008, and officially cease to exist on 1 January 2009.^[2] By 2009, Abit no longer sold motherboards.^[14]

Universal Abit was located in Neihu, Taiwan with regional offices in China, USA, Iran and the Netherlands.

ABIT had a reputation among PC enthusiasts for producing motherboards that support overclocking.^[14] In the late 1990s, the company introduced their Softmenu feature, one of the first jumperless CPU configuration systems that enable overclocking to be adjusted from the BIOS instead of fiddling with jumpers. Softmenu was later extended with the development of the μGuru chip. μGuru is a custom microprocessor on Abit motherboards which, in conjunction with ABIT software, gives the ability to modify overclocking settings in real-time while the OS is running. By providing instant feedback on the results of a particular overclock setting, μGuru reduced the time required to discover optimal settings. μGuru provided a special connector for a panel in a 5¼" drive bay to display CPU speed and voltage settings. They were also one of the first motherboard manufacturers to enable undervolting.

ABIT was the first motherboard manufacturer to introduce 133 MHz FSB operation for the Intel BX chipset with the aptly named AB-BX133.^[16] ABIT also achieved symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) operation for Intel's MendocinoCeleron CPU, in their BP6 motherboard. This was an achievement because Intel had blocked SMP operation in the Celeron.

In 2004, they introduced the OTES cooling system. This heat pipe based cooling system is intended to transfer heat from the chipset or the motherboard's voltage regulators and expel it out of the system through the rear I/O panel.

Durante Computex 2008, Universal Abit presentó el marco de fotos digital e impresora FunFab P80. Integraba una impresora de fotos directamente en un teléfono móvil . ^{[ 17 ]}

• 
  Chipset Abit NF7 Rev. 1.0 nForce2
• 
  Tarjeta gráfica Abit Siluro GeForce2 MX200
• 
  Tarjeta Wi-Fi PCIe Abit Air Pace

• S. Chen, S. Shen. "Abit cuts debts by selling properties, but trouble remains", DigiTimes.com, 28 December 2005.
• E. Wang. "Abit reaches tentative agreement with creditor banks", DigiTimes.com, 21 January 2005.
• E. Wang. "Abit stock downgraded to requiring full delivery", DigiTimes.com, 15 December 2004.

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2005-02-09)