New motherboards based on Intel's integrated 845G and discrete 845E chipsets will not hit the market until mid-May, but rumors about the gray-market release of the two chipsets have been circulating in the clone market lately.
However, surprisingly, the gray-market 845G and 845E chipsets are said to be quoted at US$40 and US$35, respectively, US$1 higher than their official prices. Industry sources said that the unusual pricing should have been due to Intel's initially limited supply of the chipsets. As usual, Intel has shipped the chipsets first to the international OEM companies and then to Taiwan's first-tier board makers, according to sources. Second-tier manufacturers only received minimal supply. With the chipset shipments increasing, the price of the gray-market chipsets is expected to fall accordingly.
At present, no second-tier manufacturer has shown interest to buy the gray-market 845G and 845E chipsets for production, as the low prices of first-tier companies' related products have left little room for profits.
Industry sources speculated that the current gray-market 845G and 845E chipsets should have been released by some OEM companies. The move seemed to suggest that these companies are rather conservative about the future business outlook.
Unlike the 845G and 845E, the release of the cheaper 845GL chipset has not been heard of so far, industry sources added. At present, motherboard makers have also regarded the 845GL as a more competitive product.

Source: DigiTimes

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