Asus ranked first in Taiwan Top 10 Global Brands IT Hardware category

Issued by Asus

Taipei, Taiwan, 02 Oct 2008

The 2008 results of the annual Taiwan Top 10 Global Brands survey were released yesterday, and Asus has been ranked first in the IT Hardware category. The company's brand value has grown sharply for the fifth consecutive year, rising $128 million over the past year and now totalling $1.324 billion. Notable contributors to Asus' strong showing in 2008 have been its Eee-branded products-led by the massively-popular Eee PC range of nettops-and Asus notebooks, which have also been performing strongly in the market.

“We will continue to instill a lean thinking mentality across all our staff, and uphold the highest standards within our organisation, to ensure that our customers continue to enjoy products that are unequaled in terms of innovation and quality,” said AsusTek Computer Vice-Chairman Jonathan Tsang.

The primary driver of Asus' brand value growth has been its Eee-branded products, led by the critically-acclaimed Eee PC The Eee PC has proved hugely-popular with both consumers and the media, having been voted as “The Most Wanted Christmas Gift” on Amazon.com and CNET at the tail-end of 2007. It has also recently been named the “Computer of the Year” and “Gadget of the Year”* at the Stuff Gadget Awards 2008.

In addition, the Eee PC has garnered numerous accolades from industry authorities, including a prestigious International CES Innovations Design and Engineering Award in 2008. Since its launch in October 2007, more than 3.5 million Eee PCs have been sold worldwide. Another Eee-branded product, the diminutive and energy-saving Eee Box, has seen brisk sales among consumers facing desktop space constraints.

Another major contributor to Asus' brand revenue growth in 2007-2008 has been its notebook business. Asus currently lies seventh in terms of global notebook market share. In recognition of its leading status in the notebook category, Asus was also named the number one in quality and services by the Wall Street Journal Asia. Out of the 2 569 international awards bestowed on Asus products in 2007, 581 were for notebooks.

Taiwan Top 10 Global Brands The valuation of Taiwan's Top 10 Global Brands has been conducted since 2003. Interbrand, a leading global brand consultancy, uses its well-established brand valuation methodology to prepare financial valuations of Taiwan's international brands. The aforementioned methodology has also been applied to the Top 100 Global Brands report appointed by the management of Business Week. The brand valuation itself is composed of qualitative and quantitative financial analyses to help effectively pinpoint the role of Taiwan's brands in the global market. * Eee PC 901. Asus Asus is a leading company in the new digital era. With a global staff of more than 8 000 and a world-class R&D design team, the company's turnover for 2007 was $6.9 billion. Asus ranks among the top 10 IT companies in BusinessWeek's “InfoTech 100”, and has been on the listing for 11 consecutive years. Asus was also selected by the Wall Street Journal Asia as number one in quality and service in Taiwan.

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Asus ranked first in Taiwan Top 10 Global Brands IT Hardware category

Popular Eee PC and Asus notebooks drive brand value growth of $128 Million year on year for total of $1.324 billion.