Mergers are nothing new in the PC business, as the companies building our laptops and desktops scramble to find new ways to lower prices. Usually, though, the acquisitions involve mainstream consumer PCs or enterprise hardware.

Lenovo, however, seems to have gaming set in its sights. A rumor from DigiTimes suggests that the Chinese computer maker is looking across the sea at a purchase of Taiwanese manufacturer MSI’s gaming notebook division. That’s almost the same as saying Lenovo wants to buy all of MSI’s PC business. MSI makes a lot of hardware components, such as motherboards and video cards, but it rarely builds PCs that aren’t gaming notebooks.

A purchase could make sense from Lenovo’s perspective. The company has made several attempts to gain traction in the gaming notebook market, such as the Y50 gaming notebook and the Erazer gaming desktop. These products haven’t been top-sellers, though, and haven’t scored well in reviews. Putting a PC gaming division together from scratch is hard work.

MSI isn’t exactly head of its class, either, but it does tend to produce systems that have excellent hardware for their given price. The company was also quick to embrace super-high-resolution displays and has strong partnerships with audio qualities that give its notebooks an edge.

The real question is not whether it’d make sense for Lenovo, but if it’d make sense for MSI. As mentioned, gaming notebooks is the only category MSI consistently competes in, so selling the division would mean withdrawing from the notebook business, more or less. That’s not the kind of decision any company will make lightly.

For now, all we really have to go on is rumors from DigiTimes. The publication is well known for its coverage of the PC industry’s inside baseball, but its rumors aren’t always accurate. The rumor says Lenovo has put an offer on the table that “hasn’t yet been turned down,” so if a deal does happen, it’ll happen this summer.

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