Originally established in 1994, PCChips is a well known supplier of motherboards and various PC components. At one time, it was highly regarded as the world’s number one motherboard manufacturer, having expert R&D teams in the Silicon Valley of Taiwan, as well as production facilities in Fremont, California and Miami, Florida. The company lost its position as global leader to ASUS when it started to cater to the entry-level market as well. Over the years, PCChips motherboards have become the preferred brand for markets in the United States and Europe, along with more underdeveloped markets such as South America. Aside from motherboards, the company is also known for product lines that include add-on cards, notebook PCs and backbone computers.
PCChips motherboards dominated the market from the mid to late 1990s. In 1998, it merged with Elite Group Computer Systems, essentially making ESG one of the largest motherboard manufacturers in the world. This merger allowed the PCChips brand name to become more widespread, which is one of the markets ESG had focused on previously. The company released a number of successful motherboards during the 2000s, including the M861G. This low-end socket 754 motherboard features on-board video on the VIA K8M800 chipset, which was often compared in performance to competing chipsets like the NVIDIA GeForce 6100 and SIS 760 760GX. PCChips also made waves with the innovative PC Chips M985G, a motherboard powered by Intel chips and processors.
Today, the PCChips name is mainly viewed as a division of Elite Group Computer Systems, who continues to be a major player in the motherboard and graphics card business. Despite a smaller share of the limelight, PCChips motherboards remain a highly successful brand. In fact, it is still heavily marketed and supported by Elite Group, as well as several third-party online vendors.