By Meryl Kao / Staff reporter
Electronics contract maker Wistron Corp (緯創) on Wednesday reported record second-quarter revenue of NT$895.44 billion (US$27.83 billion), up 62.4 percent from a year earlier, driven by strong artificial intelligence (AI) server shipments.First-half revenue surged 94.1 percent year-on-year to a record NT$1.74 trillion, company data showed.AI server revenue is expected to grow sequentially this quarter and continue rising throughout the rest of the year, a Wistron representative told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Wistron Corp showcases its new server racks during the Computex Taipei on June 2.
AI servers accounted for about 70 percent of Wistron’s revenue in the first two months of this year, the company said in March.Wistron did not provide detailed AI server shipment data and guidance, but it said that general-purpose server revenue would grow by double-digit percentages annually and sequentially throughout the rest of the year.
Notebook computers are expected to decline this quarter from last quarter, as tight DRAM chip supply has pushed up production costs and notebook retail prices, weighing on end-market demand, the representative said.Notebook computer shipments contracted 9.84 percent quarterly to 5.5 million units last quarter. Desktop computers and display shipments respectively dropped 6.4 and 3.6 percent sequentially to 2.2 million units and 2.85 million units last quarter.Desktop computers and display shipments are expected to remain flat from the previous quarter, Wistron said.Separately, Inventec Corp (英業達) reported second-quarter revenue of NT$269.87 billion, up 44.65 percent from a year earlier, driven by strong AI server demand.Customers front-loaded AI server orders in the first half of the year, resulting in better-than-expected performances in the first and second quarters, an Inventec representative told the Taipei Times by telephone.Inventec said it is optimistic about server demand outlook this quarter in expectation of a quarterly growth in shipments throughout the year, they said.However, actual shipments would depend on the availability of key components, Inventec said.The company expects AI server revenue contribution to make up more than 50 percent of the company’s total revenue this year, compared with more than 40 percent last year, it said.Inventec mainly assembles AI servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s B300 platform, but it also ships servers running on application-specific integrated circuits as well as non-AI, or general-purpose, servers, it said.Shipments of Nvidia Corp’s next-generation Vera Rubin server platform are expected to begin in small volumes next quarter, the Inventec representative said.Inventec shipped 5.4 million notebook computers last quarter, flat from the previous quarter, exceeding the company’s guidance in April, as customers brought forward orders to minimize increases in key component prices, they said.Inventec expects notebook shipments to decline by a high single-digit percentage this quarter from last quarter, as demand normalizes after customers front-loaded purchases in the first half of the year, they said.The company has a relatively conservative outlook for notebook shipments in the second half, they added.
