Shares of cloud computing equipment supplier Wiwynn Corp (緯穎科技) yesterday rose more than 5 percent, bucking the broader market’s downturn as investors remain confident about the company’s business prospects.
Wiwynn, which makes cloud-based servers and hyperscale data centers, on Monday reported earnings per share (EPS) of NT$14.96 for the second quarter, a fall of 30.67 percent from the previous quarter and down 26.55 percent from a year earlier.
However, the company’s EPS for the first half of the year reached NT$33.82, higher than the NT$33.79 it posed for the same period last year. It was also its best performance for the period in the company’s history.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
Analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet expect Wiwynn to report EPS of NT$66.14 to NT$82.06 for this year, with a median estimate of NT$71.76.
Wiwynn shares closed up 5.41 percent, while the TAIEX retreated 0.7 percent.
Its server clients are mostly large data center operators and it is also an artificial intelligence (AI) server system integrator for US cloud service providers (CSPs) such as Meta Platforms Inc, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc, competing mainly with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), analysts have said.
“This year is challenging in light of global inflation and interest rate hikes, which are factors not conducive to enterprise purchases,” Wiwynn chief financial officer Harry Chen (陳昌偉) told an online investors’ conference yesterday.
“CSPs last year showed intentions to adjust downward their capital expenditures and they are gradually implementing their plans this year,” he added.
Chen said that prospects for next year depend on inflation and the supply-demand balance in the second half of this year.
However, the company would have greater exposure to AI servers next year, after shipping limited, tailor-made AI models this year, he added.
Regarding market speculation that the company might gain orders from the Middle East for servers using immersion cooling technology, Chen declined to comment, saying only that it hopes to optimize its customer structure and would engage with clients whenever opportunities emerge.
Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) forecast that Wiwynn would ship 2,000 AI servers this year, increasing to 25,000 units next year and 46,000 units in 2025.
As the average selling price of AI servers is much higher than for traditional servers, they would contribute significantly to Wiwynn’s revenue in the next two years, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting said in a note.
Consolidated revenue in the April-to-June quarter fell 25 percent from a year earlier to NT$56.31 billion (US$1.77 billion), while net profit fell 26.6 percent to NT$2.62 billion from NT$3.56 billion a year earlier, Wiwynn reported on Monday.
Gross margin last quarter increased 0.5 percentage points to 8.8 percent, while operating margin grew 0.1 percentage points to 6.2 percent due to better cost controls, the company said.
In the first half of the year, cumulative revenue grew 2.8 percent year-on-year to NT$130.53 billion and net profit rose 0.1 percent to NT$5.91 billion, with gross margin and operating margin improving to 8.5 percent and 6.1 percent respectively, it said.
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
Luxury fashion powerhouse Prada SpA has acknowledged the ancient Indian roots of its new sandal design after the debut of the open-toe footwear sparked a furor among Indian artisans and politicians thousands of miles from the catwalk in Italy. Images from Prada’s fashion show in Milan last weekend showed models wearing leather sandals with a braided design that resembled handmade Kolhapuri slippers with designs dating back to the 12th century. A wave of criticism in the media and from lawmakers followed over the Italian brand’s lack of public acknowledgement of the Indian sandal design, which is named after a city in the
The US overtaking China as Taiwan’s top export destination could boost industrial development and wage growth, given the US is a high-income economy, an economist said yesterday. However, Taiwan still needs to diversify its export markets due to the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an economics professor at National Central University. Taiwan’s exports soared to a record US$51.74 billion last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and continued orders, with information and communication technology (ICT) and audio/video products leading all sectors. The US reclaimed its position as Taiwan’s top export market, accounting for
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached