Wiwynn Corp (緯穎科技) is to continue capacity expansion to meet market demand, the maker of cloud-based servers and hyperscale data centers said yesterday, adding that the growth momentum of artificial intelligence (AI) servers would remain strong next year.
The company’s non-current assets including factories account for 10 percent of total assets, indicating that Wiwynn has actively and continuously expanded its production capacity in recent years, chief financial officer Harry Chen (陳昌偉) told investors yesterday.
Chen said the company’s board of directors on Monday approved a plan to lease land on the Tainan campus of the Southern Taiwan Science Park and build a new factory there to produce server circuit boards and for testing and certifying new products including AI servers and cloud-based devices.
Photo courtesy of Wiwynn Corp
The construction cost is estimated at about NT$6.2 billion (US$192.6 million), he said.
The new investment comes as the company installed more production equipment at its existing factory in Tainan this month as market demand continues to rise, Wiwynn said.
The company started construction of its first factory in Malaysia in the third quarter of this year, mainly for systems integration services, it said. The second factory in Malaysia, primarily for the production of motherboards, is expected to begin production in the second half of next year, it added.
The company also plans to expand capacity at its factories in Mexico to enhance supply chain resilience, it said.
Wiwynn reported a net profit of NT$2.62 billion (US$81.4 million) in the July-to-September quarter, flat from the previous quarter but down 39.4 percent from NT$4.32 billion a year earlier, with earnings per share of NT$14.96.
Gross margin improved to 9.6 percent in the third quarter, compared with 8.8 percent in the previous quarter and 8.1 percent a year ago. Last quarter’s gross margin was the company’s best quarterly figure since its Taiwan Stock Exchange debut in late March 2019.
During the first three quarters of this year, net profit contracted 16.6 percent to NT$8.53 billion, from NT$10.22 billion a year ago, with earnings per share dropping to NT$48.78 from NT$58.48.
Third-quarter revenue dropped 33.7 percent year-on-year to NT$52.82 billion and cumulative revenue in the first three quarters fell 10.8 percent annually to NT$183.35 billion.
Chen said the annual decrease in revenue in the third quarter was not unexpected, but added that AI server revenue exceeded 10 percent of its total revenue in the quarter, meeting the company’s expectations.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
RSS