Since I had a couple of days to kill after Computex ended, I decided to take a trip to Gigabyte's HQ in Taiwan which happens to be about a 25 - 30 minute drive from the center of Taipei. It's not here where product is built and shipped (there are multiple factories, with one being located in Tainan, southern Taiwan), but rather this is where all of the business gets done, including marketing, sales, research and development, testing, engineering, et cetera.
The building on the outside, which I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of, looks rather standard. But once you step inside, the building looks much cooler, with numerous products and awards laced all around the lobby. At the desk are a couple of the nicest receptionists I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with. To get further, I had to forfeit over my ID, which is for some security purpose, but I got it back after I left.
Gigabyte was kind enough to show me throughout the entire building, but sadly, there were some areas where I wasn't allowed to snap a photo. One such area was where products are tested under extreme conditions, either a very hot or very cold environment, and also where workers stress-test the heck out of Gigabyte's motherboards and graphics cards.
On the bottom floor is where the lunchroom is, and basically, workers have the option to come here to get a bite to eat or to just relax. There's a room split off of here that changes its purpose over time, but always focuses on giving workers a place to unwind or exercise.
The fourth floor is where a lot of stuff happens business-wise, from marketing to sales to other logistics. It's also on this floor where overclocker Hi Cookie spends his days doing what he does best. What's humorous is that he began out with one desk, or cubicle, but ended up taking up so much room that he ended up getting bumped up to two, and then three. His work area is hardly what most would consider "neat", but there's definitely a method to his madness.
I particularly liked a pile of UD9's I saw lying around. He's currently working on his fifth such board!
After I was shown around, it was time to go get a bite to eat, so Gigabyte's Colin Brix and Rockson Chiang took me to a restaurant called Carnegie's, which is a very popular spot for westerners who are in Taipei. They serve a good selection of beer, and an incredible number of cocktails (there were 366 on the menu), and the food was pretty good also.
Kudos to anyone who knows what beer we're drinking in the picture.
The building on the outside, which I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of, looks rather standard. But once you step inside, the building looks much cooler, with numerous products and awards laced all around the lobby. At the desk are a couple of the nicest receptionists I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with. To get further, I had to forfeit over my ID, which is for some security purpose, but I got it back after I left.
Gigabyte was kind enough to show me throughout the entire building, but sadly, there were some areas where I wasn't allowed to snap a photo. One such area was where products are tested under extreme conditions, either a very hot or very cold environment, and also where workers stress-test the heck out of Gigabyte's motherboards and graphics cards.
On the bottom floor is where the lunchroom is, and basically, workers have the option to come here to get a bite to eat or to just relax. There's a room split off of here that changes its purpose over time, but always focuses on giving workers a place to unwind or exercise.
The fourth floor is where a lot of stuff happens business-wise, from marketing to sales to other logistics. It's also on this floor where overclocker Hi Cookie spends his days doing what he does best. What's humorous is that he began out with one desk, or cubicle, but ended up taking up so much room that he ended up getting bumped up to two, and then three. His work area is hardly what most would consider "neat", but there's definitely a method to his madness.
I particularly liked a pile of UD9's I saw lying around. He's currently working on his fifth such board!
After I was shown around, it was time to go get a bite to eat, so Gigabyte's Colin Brix and Rockson Chiang took me to a restaurant called Carnegie's, which is a very popular spot for westerners who are in Taipei. They serve a good selection of beer, and an incredible number of cocktails (there were 366 on the menu), and the food was pretty good also.
Kudos to anyone who knows what beer we're drinking in the picture.
