Motherboard manufacturing

[wolfy87]

If someone could tell me how motherboards are made, where they are made (Are they all comming from china?), how manufacturers depend on intel, nvidia, amd? Where are all the nb and sbridges going, and what are the agreements between BiG Three and Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and others, and how mobos are distributed around the globe???

I also heard that intel makes some non OC mobos in USA, and that they are sold to specified partners also being very expensive, so is this true?

 

[mrandtx]

Almost sounds like you're doing a book report for school!?!

Some of your questions are too broad to answer in a short post. How are they made? Do you mean what machines are used, how they are engineered, or what materials are used?

How do manf's depend on the big three? In many ways. What are you after? The even bigger question you should be asking is why?
Where are all the nb and sb going? Uhhhhh on motherboards!
Agreements are typically not made public.
How are they distributed? They are shipped (by either boat or land or air).
Yes, Intel makes mobos that are known for their stability, and therefore don't make it as easy to OC.

Marc

 

[wolfy87]

No, not for the school...
the topic is started on another forum so I got interested and thought that some of the guys from here will know it.
It`s not that complex, just a few steps in production I know all about silicon, semiconductors, wafers, and machines, also know that sb and nb are placed on the mobo huh:
And didn`t ask how they are shipped, they certainly couldn`t be shipped by submarines...
All I ask is a simple production line, like Intel design chipset, make chips by themselves or give the design to some other factory to make it for them, and also some other things like does shipping depend on intel or on the manufacturer, like if asus want to distribute mobos in one country it needs to have merchandise in that country or in that area???
And simple things like this...?

 

[Aluvus]

In a nutshell:

Chipsets start life in an Intel, NVIDIA, etc., design facility, typically in the United States. The design goes through all the normal steps before being sent to a wafer fab. For an Intel product, this means going to an Intel fab, possibly in the US or possibly somewhere closer to Taiwan. For NVIDIA, AMD/ATI, and (I believe) VIA, it will most likely be a TSMC fab in Taiwan. SiS is owned by UMC now, whose fabs are in Taiwan and Japan. After the fab it goes to package and test, then to the motherboard manufacturer.

The motherboard companies are pretty much all Taiwanese. Some, including Foxconn, have at least some manufacturing facilities in mainland China. Motherboard assembly is fairly standard stuff for PCB manufacturing: pick-and-place machines deposit the small components, large components may be placed by hand, then the board is run through a reflow or wave soldering machine. There's a good Gigabyte factory tour at PCStats, and a less-good AOpen tour at Digit-Life.

The manufacturers generally have distribution centers in their major markets; Foxconn provides a map that should give you a good enough idea. They can sell wherever they please, local authorities permitting. The chipset makers could try to threaten that they would withhold future chipsets as a punishment, but AFAIK that is not something that is normally done.

To the best of my knowledge all Intel-branded motherboards are made by Foxconn overseas.

 

[AmberClad]

I'm pretty sure there is no "Big Three" motherboard manufacturers. It's more like "Big Two", and those two are ASUSTek (aka ASUS, ASRock) and Hon Hai (aka Foxconn).

* ASUS is massive, both in the desktop and laptop markets.

* Foxconn rakes in a bit more overall, but keep in mind that they make iPods, game consoles, Nvidia video cards, and various other crap. And, rumors of a merger with Quanta aside, they don't make laptop boards. So as far as motherboards, ASUS has them beat.



The other guys, including Gigabyte and MSI pale in comparison. Some 2006 sales numbers from Digitimes (the numbers are in millions of Taiwanese dollars):

Asustek Computer - 386,039.18

Foxconn Electronics (the registered trade name of Hon Hai Precision Industry) - 907,375.89
Foxconn Technology Corporation - 54,586.56

I'm assuming that Foxconn Tech Corp is their purely retail branch, and that it doesn't include their OEM motherboards for Intel/Dell/HP, etc. Probably includes their retail-branded video cards though.

Micro-Star International (MSI) - 74,532.13
Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) - 57,827.63
Gigabyte Technology - 43,151.70

The other guys, like DFI, Jetway, Epox, Biostar, make <10,000 million Taiwanese dollars each.

As Aluvus already mentioned, some of those manufacturers have their factories in China, presumably for cost reasons. Foxconn, in particular, got into trouble for using sweatshop labor to make those iPods...although, all they seem to have suffered is a slap on the wrist.

Edit: Oops...wrote "slave" instead of "sweat shop" .

 

[Heidfirst]

the five tier 1 mobo companies are usually considered to be Asus, ECS, Foxconn, Gigabyte & MSI (alphabetical order).

 

[mrandtx]

Here's a simplified life cycle of a board (some steps go back and forth, esp 3, 4, and 5 - and some can occur simultaneously):

1. Product spec's
2. Engineering design documentation (because engineers always do their documentation first
3. Schematic capture
4. PCB layout (parts placement). Line up pins various parts so that traces can be direct
5. PCB routing (connecting the pins on the parts, per the schematic). Done on as few layers as possible to minimize cost.
6. Layout and routing double check
7. Have blank PCB made
8. Check blank PCB
9. Have parts soldered (aka stuffed) onto board. (see note below)
10. Run stuffed board through electrical tests (first unpowered and then powered)
11. Start debugging


Notes: Step 9 typically involves a pick-and-place machine which sets the parts down on the board, after which everything is preheated to 150-200 deg C for 1-3 minutes, before peaking up to actual solder melting temp (between 225 and 260 deg C) for a 10-30 seconds.

Hmm... now what could you mean by "Where are all the nb and sbridges going". When termed like that, I think I answered correctly: "on motherboards". But maybe you are actually asking what they connect to? They sit between the processor and EVERYTHING else, right?

I still don't understand what you're asking with regards to manufacturers. There used to be a lot more competition, but with competition comes lower prices, and as the cost of fab plants and equipment continues to rise, some competitors drop out. What's left is the big three plus some tier two's (like Via). As for actually fabricating the wafers, I believe Intel uses its own fabs for high-end stuff like the nb, sb, and processors. NVIDIA is fabless - it has companies like TSMC or UMC or Toshiba or IBM or one of a few others that can fab modern wafers. AMD is between Intel and NVIDIA. They have some fabs, but almost certainly have some of their stuff (almost certainly the ATI designs) made on one of the above fabs.

There are only a few companies in the world that make key components for chips. Substrate, pins, actual packages, bond wires, filler compound, etc.

Marc

 

[tcsenter]

Easy Bake Oven.

 

[wolfy87]

Ok thanks Alvus, AmberClad and mrandtx...
You answered my questins, maybe my eng is not excellent,
but now I have the stuff I wanted...

P.S. I meant to say where are sb and nb going whan they are made, or where they are transported excatly...

 

[o1die]

If you really want to know how boards are made, checkout an article on the ecs facility. It was written awhile back either at toms hardware guide or this website. Do a search. I use ecs boards. They build about 3 million a year, and are second behind asus. I used to work at an IBM plant in austin that built boards from scratch, and sent them to a building next door to be populated. It was closed about 6 years ago by flextronics during the recession of 2000-2001.

 

[piasabird]

Most motherboard use to be made in areas like Taiwan off the coast of China. Recently many manufacturers have been moveing facilities to mainland China. You could say that China owes a lot to Taiwan. Also some manufacturers of silicon wafers for CPU's and Memory are being located in China.

This does not mean that all the design work and engineering is in Taiwan and China. In Dresden Germany AMD has a research facility. IBM still owns some facilities in their New York State Facility (Fishhook?). Many companies in the computer manufacturing are spread accross the globe making things like Video Cards, and other accessories for computers. Stuff like computer cases and CPU Coolers and fans could be made anywhere.

You might do some research on different companies.
I think Phillips is a Dutch owned company but I think they focus on Drives.
Samsung is a Korean Company and they make things like TV's, Memory, Etc. (They are a very large diversified Corporation)
Sony Japan
AMD originally American.
Intel started with a Chipset. They are gigantic and working on so many things you can not keep track of them. Intel does not make their own motherboards, but I think they design them and have them made to their specifications.

You might try looking a different places like news on the Intel Developers Forum or other trade shows that are held every year.

Some web pages like www.newegg.com should have links to all the motherboard companies websites.

Might try www.motherboards.org

Here are some brand names.
They are not in any particular order, and there are a few others I probably left out.

ASUS
ECS
EPOX
XFX(NEW)
ABIT
EVGA(NEW)
ASROCK(FAIRLY NEW)
INTEL
BIOSTAR
GIGABYTE
MSI
FOXCONN
AOPEN
PC CHIPS
VIA(CHIPSETS/MOTHERBOARDS/MINI-ITX)

Motherboard manufacturers tend to be somewhat secretive and dont like people taking pictures of their processes in action. However, things like the traces or the buses those lines of solder or taped down pathways have to be fairly standardized. This is because they often use the same chipsets and Intel or AMD have designed how the chipsets connect to the pathways on the motherboard.

Other things on the motherboard:
CPU SOCKETS (Standards)
North Bridge + South Bridge(Chipset)
BIOS Chips(Chipset?)
MEMORY SOCKETS (Standards)
Memory Controllers(may be part of Chipset)
CHIPSETS(Very Standardized but constantly changing)
Integrated Sound
Integrated Video
Integrated Network Controllers
RAID Controllers
HARD DRIVE and RAID Controllers

There are many things about this that are controlled by standards committees.
Motherboards are in what they call "FORM FACTORS" like MATX, ATX, BTX, Mini-ITX.
Some companies like INTEL came up with these form factors. They do this so the mounting holes on the Motherboard match up with the mounting holes on the Cases. Also there are standards associated to this like for the Power Supplies and for Drives so they have a standard for the interface on the motherboard. This is for parts interchangeability.

In the old days everyone made computers to their own standards. Then IBM made the first IBM Desktop PC. They used a standard Chipset so the parts became standardized so IBM could use off the shelf parts made by other companies.

Try looking for a copy of this old book:

Accidental Empires

http://www.amazon.com/Accident...petition/dp/0887308554

It is kind of dated but it is pretty good reading.

 

[Aluvus]

Originally posted by: piasabird
IBM still owns some facilities in their New York State Facility (Fishhook?).

East Fishkill, NY.

 

[geokilla]

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/525/1/

Hope it helps.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: geokilla
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/525/1/

Hope it helps.

That's a pretty interesting read. And it potentially answers one question I've had for a while now -- who is responsible for the crooked caps I've had on some of my boards . But it is comforting to know that a human does test those finished boards before they get shipped off.

On a side note, I love those articles that take inside looks at the tech industry, like the NewEgg warehouse article AT did a few years ago.

 

[Ozoneman]

How motherboards are made.

http://www.pcstats.com/article...?articleid=1722&page=1

 

[wolfy87]

Originally posted by: piasabird
Try looking for a copy of this old book:

Accidental Empires

http://www.amazon.com/Accident...petition/dp/0887308554

It is kind of dated but it is pretty good reading.

It looks like a great cheap thing... I`ll look for it...tnx piasabird...

I knew all that stuff about companies, brand names, and parts of a mobo...
Just wanted to find out and search deeper, for a road that mobo parts are driving, to see which guy makes for example pci slots, PCBs or bios chips etc., who takes job from there to fit those on the mobos, who programs chips, and alternatively(hope written right :]) who test these things...
Things are a bit clearer to me now, I also visited HardwareSecrets, find out couple of things...