World's second-largest GPU maker flees China on cusp of RTX 5090 launch to avoid US sanctions

HKEPCreports that PC Partner, a Hong Kong-based company, will relocate its headquarters to Singapore, creating PC Partner Singapore PTE Ltd. The company, which makes GPUs for brands like Zotac, Inno3D, and Manli, is also reportedly shifting its production facilities to Indonesia. Apparently, the GPU maker shifted its base and production in time for the launch of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards, swerving any expectedhigh-tech export controlsimposed on China by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The recent PC Partner Group Limited (PCT) listing on the Singapore SGX stock exchange provides evidence of HKEPC's claim. However, HKEPC said that the China-to-Indonesia production shift was a rumor.

The PC Partner name might not be very familiar to youngsters as components featuring the eponymous brand, founded in 1997, aren’t widespread in the West in the 2020s. However, some of us remember the firm’s accessibly priced motherboards from a few decades ago. PC Partner also previously producedRadeonreference graphics cards for AMD, so the company isn't a lightweight by any means.

In 2024, PC Partner is probably an even more important player in the PC components business, making cards for brands such as Zotac, Inno3D, and Manli. These are all important PC graphics card players, although some aren't very popular in the U.S. market. According to HKEPC, combining all the brands makes PC Partner “the world’s second-largest graphics card manufacturer.”

The U.S. sanctions on powerful GPUs will have already hit PC Partner during theRTX 40-seriesera, and the firm seems to have decided it is a worthwhile use of time, effort, and money to uproot its operations ahead of the NvidiaGeForce RTX 50-series(Blackwell) onslaught completely.

Based in and operating from un-sanctioned territories, we will see plenty of Zotac-branded RTX 5090 graphics cards marketed here in the West and in other friendly territories. With the performance uplifts expected across the RTX 50 family, it may even be the case that RTX 5080 products will be too advanced or powerful to avoid sanctions. All this uncertainty should be eliminated for PC Partner’s business going forward.