[2] From that point until its breakup in 2010,[3] it alternated between the first- and second-largest computer manufacturer in South Korea, competing with Samsung Electronics.

[3] TriGem was the first Korean company dedicated to manufacturing computer systems,[1] bucking from the trend of established chaebol conglomerates such as Hyundai, Lucky-Goldstar (LG), and Daewoo, who had opened divisions to manufacture electronic components that go into computers (namely DRAM) but who were reluctant about fully entering the burgeoning global microcomputer market.

[2] In 1982, TriGem forged a partnership with Seiko Epson of Japan, committing to build computer peripherals such as printers for the latter on an OEM basis.

Setting out to innovate in the field of personal computing, the company redirected eight percent of their gross sales into the research and development end of this subsidiary.

The company planned a line of PC-compatible desktop computers, notebooks, and workstations based on the EISA and Micro Channel buses.

[8] Established in 1998, eMachines was a joint venture between TriGem, Korea Data Systems,[9] and Japanese computer maker Sotec.

[10] Stakeholders in Thrunet included Microsoft and the KEPCO, an electric utility company run by the state of South Korea.

Although it trailed close behind Samsung and LG, margins shrank as it vied for the bottom-end of the ever-cheapening personal computer market of the early 2000s.

[3] Also cited by insiders was a botched refocus as a consultant for the design of computer systems for outside companies (ODM), a segment in which they had failed to find many high-profile customers.

[12] Lenovo Group, the third-largest computer company in 2006, was rumored to be in talks to purchase TriGem amid auctions of its assets in 2006.