Motherboard giants Legend Holdings and Gigabyte Technology just told the world that they will be teaming up in a joint venture to develop a combined contract manufacturing business. The companies will merge their motherboard factories in Huiyang and Dongguan in the venture. The total investment is estimated to be HK$250 million and company will hold 50% equity. Even the Board of Directors will be a 50/50 proposition with three members each from Legend and Gigabyte. The new company will have a production capacity of 9 million motherboards per year and will initially focus on producing boards for Legend QDI and Gigabyte but will later move toward developing a worldwide OEM customer base. Gigabyte currently has markets in 52 countries and sold some 9.8 million motherboards in 2000. Legend sold over 3.6 million motherboards in the 2000/01 financial year.