Formerly known as ABIT, Universal Abit is a manufacturer of computer and motherboard components. Headquartered in Taiwan, the company’s core product line of motherboards is geared towards the overclocker market of PC enthusiasts. Along with intangible properties, such as patents and trademarks, the ABIT brand name was purchased by Universal Scientific Industrial in May 2006 due to the company’s financial woes.
ABIT was officially established in 1989 and by 1991, the company had become the fastest growing motherboard manufacturer on the market with sales exceeding $10,000.000. In 2000, they relocated to a new headquarters in Neihu, Taipei and opened a state of the art factory in Suzhou China. It is said that the number of ABIT motherboard sales doubled between 2000 and 2001.
Over the years, the company has enjoyed tremendous success under Universal Abit and the original name. ABIT is well known for introducing AB-BX133, a 133 MHz FBS operation design for the Intel BX Chipset. It also achieved symmetric multiprocessing operation for the Intel Mendocino Celeron CPU with its ABIT BP6 motherboard. In 2004, the company publicly launched the OTES cooling system, a heat pipe-based cooling system designed to reduce heat from the motherboard’s voltage regulators or chipset and expel from the system via the rear I/O panel. At Computex 2008, Universal Abit introduced the world to the FunFab P80 Digital Photo Frame and Printer. This device marked the first digital photo frame integrated with a premium quality printer that offered the ability to connect seamlessly with a mobile phone.
After a long run in the business, Universal Abit announced that it would cease to develop ABIT motherboards at the end of 2008. It is speculated that the company desires to move away from the enthusiast hardware audience and into the consumer electronics market. While this is definitely sad news, you can still receive support for your ABIT motherboards under warranty conditions.