UPDATED BY
Rose Velazquez | Apr 03, 2023

A fire-breathing dragon bursting out of a computer screen. That’s the image Computer Gaming World chose for the cover of its debut issue in November 1981.

It was surely a sign of things to come.

Within a few years, a PC gaming revolution had begun thanks to hardware developed by companies like Apple, Atari, Commodore and IBM. Marked by improved graphics, sound effects and gameplay mechanics, it reached more than mere hobbyists and beyond the arcade by allowing gamers to immerse themselves in new worlds and inhabit new characters from the comfort of home.

As PC parts became interchangeable and commoditized, enthusiasts began creating customized machines that met their personal preferences — often with the goal of maximizing performance for an improved gaming experience.

12 GAMING PC COMPANIES FOUNDED IN THE U.S.

  • Alienware
  • AMD
  • Corsair
  • CyberPowerPC
  • Digital Storm
  • EVGA
  • Falcon Northwest
  • iBUYPOWER
  • Maingear
  • NVIDIA
  • NZXT
  • Origin PC

Being worth $29.2 billion as of 2021 and projected to reach a market value of $31.5 billion by 2028, the PC gaming industry is driven in large part by rapidly improving hardware. And while most gamers still prefer to buy pre-assembled gaming computers directly from PC companies, many take a DIY approach and curate their own parts.

Today, it should come as no surprise that there are plenty of companies serving this ever-burgeoning market.

 

32 Companies Shaping the Gaming PC Industry

Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan

Acer has been around since the 1970s, when it first began producing microelectronics. Today, it’s a publicly traded company and a global producer of computer-related hardware and software serving sectors ranging from business to education. Among pre-built gaming PCs, Acer’s Predator product series is quite popular.

 

Location: Miami, Florida

Alienware, a subsidiary of computing giant Dell, has been a mainstay in the gaming PC world since the mid-1990s. It specializes in high-end laptops and desktops for gaming. Alienware computers have earned a reputation for their distinctive, stylish designs that reflect the company’s out-of-this-world moniker.

 

Location: Chicago, Illinois

SteelSeries makes professional-grade gear and software for gaming. Its gear line includes headsets and speakers, mice, mouse pads, controllers and keyboards. It also offers software for recording and sharing gameplay, optimizing gaming sound, customizing in-game features like lighting and audio and sharing sound between multiple player headsets.

 

Location: Sunnyvale, California

Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, has been making computer processors and related products for over a half-century. A publicly traded company, it’s second only to Intel in CPU market share as of the end of 2021. AMD sells its gaming products, such as Ryzen processors and Radeon graphic cards, directly to consumers.

 

Location: Taipei, Taiwan

ASRock, owned by Pegatron Corporation, is one of the largest motherboard manufacturers in the world. Since 2002, the company has provided an array of motherboards for gamers who like to pick their own parts and personalize their PCs. The company also produces mini PCs.

 

Location: Taipei, Taiwan

ASUS is a global manufacturer of consumer electronics and computer hardware. Reportedly one of the world’s leading manufacturers of motherboards, ASUS also makes gaming-specific desktops, laptops, graphics cards and monitors under the brand name Republic of Gamers.

 

Location: Taipei, Taiwan

Founded in 2001, this consumer electronics company specializes in high-quality gaming monitors and esports gear. BenQ offers a variety of products, each with specs that cater to unique gaming preferences like high refresh rate, improved resolution or large screen size.

 

 

Location: Fremont, California 

Corsair makes a variety of peripherals and components that gamers use to build PCs. This California-based company is also known for offering high-performance memory. In 2019, Corsair acquired Origin PC, which specializes in making pre-built gaming computers.

 

Location: City of Industry, California 

Headquartered outside of Los Angeles since its founding in 1998, CyberPowerPC produces and sells computer hardware, much of which is oriented toward gaming. CyberPowerPC offers customization and personalization for gamers who like to build their own PCs.

 

Location: Round Rock, Texas

Since launching amid Texas’s computer boom in the 1980s, Dell has made hardware and software products for professionals, students and gamers alike. Dell owns a gaming subsidiary, Alienware. But it also offers a range of desktops and laptops, under its own name, with specs catered to the modern gamer.

 

Location: Morgan Hill, California 

An independent outfit headquartered in Northern California and founded in 2002, Digital Storm produces high-performing pre-built desktops and laptops for gamers.

 

Location: Brea, California

Launched in 1999, EVGA makes and sells a wide range of gaming hardware products that include motherboards, cooling kits, power supplies and (in partnership with NVIDIA) graphics cards. In recent years, EVGA added gaming laptops to its product lineup.

 

Location: Medford, Oregon 

Founded in 1992, Falcon Northwest arrived early on the gaming-oriented PC scene. It’s a privately held company that makes custom, high-performance desktops, laptops and workstations specifically for gamers and enthusiasts.

 

Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan

A decades-old global company, GIGABYTE makes and sells a wide array of computers and computer parts. Its motherboards, in particular, are popular among gamers and used by other companies that make gaming PCs.

 

Location: Palo Alto, California

HP is a behemoth information technology company that spun off from Hewlett-Packard, which was founded in 1939. It focuses on making PCs for businesses and consumers alike. HP uses its brand OMEN to produce gaming laptops, desktops, displays and accessories.

 

Location: City of Industry, California

For two decades, iBUYPOWER has specialized in making high-performance, customized desktops and laptops, as well as peripherals, for gamers. In 2019, the California-based company became the official gaming sponsor of NRG Esports, an esports team.

 

Location: Santa Clara, California 

A pillar of Silicon Valley for over a half-century, Intel manufactures and supplies processors for many of the world’s largest computer companies. A processor, or CPU, is the heart of the gaming PC. If you own a computer, there’s a good chance it’s powered by an Intel CPU.

 

Location: Hong Kong

Headquartered in Hong Kong, Lenovo is the world’s largest PC vendor. It acquired IBM’s PC division in 2005. In addition to making ubiquitous ThinkPad business laptops, it serves gamers with its Legion product series, which features laptops, desktops, towers and cubes, all designed for gaming.

 

Location: Lausanne, Switzerland

Logitech is a Swiss-owned company that manufacturers peripheral devices like keyboards, mice, controllers, headsets and more — basically any upgraded add-on that plugs into a PC. With products geared toward the gaming community, Logitech sponsors many game creators and esports professionals.

 

Location: Kenilworth, New Jersey 

MAINGEAR is a privately held, self-funded boutique PC maker. Since 2002, the company has specialized in building custom, high-performance desktops, laptops and workstations for gamers and PC enthusiasts alike.

 

Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan

Micro-Star International (MSI), which manufactures and sells a wide range of consumer electronics, has long been known for its motherboards and graphics cards. The company offers a variety of gaming products, such as laptops, desktops, computer components and peripherals.

 

Location: City of Industry, California 

Newegg is an online retailer specializing in PC hardware and gaming. Not only that, but its subsidiary company ABS creates gaming PC workstations with integrated hardware technology from Intel, NVIDIA, and others. ABS in particular provides 18 different pre-built PC options with included keyboard and mouse peripherals.

 

Location: Santa Clara, California

The cornerstone of NVIDIA’s business has been producing graphics processing units (GPU) for gaming companies. It supplied the chips for Microsoft and Sony’s gaming consoles. The company has also been making a splash in artificial intelligence, and has its own cloud-based gaming platform called GeForce Now.

 

Location: City of Industry, California

Founded in 2004, NZXT is a computer hardware company that started out making premium computer cases. Now, in addition to those, it offers motherboards, cooling products and accessories for gamers and PC buffs.

 

Location: Miami, Florida

Founded in 2009 by former Alienware employees, Origin PC specializes in high-performance laptops and desktops geared toward gamers who prefer to buy, rather than build, their PCs. In 2019, the company was acquired by Corsair — though the two brands remain separate and Origin PC continues to operate out of Miami.

 

Location: San Francisco, California 

Gamers look to Razer for its suite of Blade gaming laptops as well as its high-end peripherals, including keyboards, mice and displays. Billing itself as a gamer-focused ecosystem and lifestyle brand, the company also offers software services and sponsors several esports professionals and events.

 

Location: Suwon, South Korea and Ridgefield Park, New Jersey 

Along with creating mobile devices and televisions, Samsung Electronics also offers hardware for gaming purposes. The company’s gaming monitor options are created specifically for PC desktop setups, while its laptops, such as the newest in the Galaxy Book series, offer CPU and resolution capabilities for PC gaming on the go.

 

Location: Hong Kong

Founded in 2001, Sapphire Technology is a privately held global company that specializes in graphics cards that help render a game’s visuals. Sapphire also makes motherboards, mini PCs and other products.

 

Location: San Jose, California

Supermicro is known for its computing server and storage technology, though has branched out in the past few years to manufacture PC hardware parts, including those for gaming. The company offers several gaming-specific motherboards, as well as high-end desktop workstation systems.

 

Location: Richmond, Virginia

Headquartered in Virginia’s capital city, Velocity Micro custom designs and builds computers for gamers and PC hobbyists. This boutique company has been around since 1997, and its products have won a slew of awards from gaming magazines.

 

Location: Midvale, Utah

Xidax prides itself on passionately designing and building custom PC setups for equally passionate gamers. A relative newcomer that was founded in 2013, the company even offers a lifetime warranty on its products.

 

Location: Hong Kong

A computer hardware maker, ZOTAC specializes in producing gaming PCs, mini PCs, motherboards, video cards and other accessories. Founded in 2006, the company launched its new gaming-specific brand, ZOTAC GAMING, in 2017.

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