Inventec Corp (英業達) is optimistic about the growth momentum in its server and data center businesses this year and shrugging off concerns about a local rival poaching company talent, Inventec chairman Tom Cho (卓桐華) said on Friday.
“There were indeed some of our employees who went to another company... This might sound a bit callous toward our former colleagues, but I have to say that Taiwan’s best server talent is still at Inventec,” Cho told a news conference ahead of the firm’s annual employee banquet at Nangang Exhibition Hall on Friday last week.
Cho’s remarks confirmed market speculation that Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) last year lured sales staff and engineers working on server research and development from Inventec, including the company’s former head of sales, who was responsible for server orders from Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
“[You] should spend more resources on cultivating the strength of your own engineers and let them do their job,” Cho said, referring to Compal. “Do not use improper means to compete against other companies.”
Inventec has become a leader in the nation’s server industry because it spent years building its technological strengths and production capacity, Cho said.
Inventec’s server business accounted for more than 30 percent of the company’s revenue, totaling NT$467.51 billion (US$16.04 billion) last year, a company financial statement showed.
Using original design manufacturing as a basis for comparison, Cho forecast flat revenue for the company’s server-related products this year, compared with a year earlier, while expecting double-digit growth for its data center business.
Inventec’s data center clients include Amazon.com Inc, as well as China’s Baidu Inc (百度), Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) and Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊).
Compal president Ray Chen (陳瑞聰) on Friday last week said the company aims to narrow the losses from its server business to NT$300 million from last year’s NT$600 million.
Compared with its domestic peers, Compal is a latecomer to the server business, but expects it to become profitable from next year, Chen told a media gathering.
Shares of Inventec dropped 1.03 percent to NT$24.1, while Compal rose 1.4 percent to close at NT$21.7 in the local bourse yesterday. The TAIEX gained 0.67 percent.
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