PC vendor Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday posted its strongest profit in 10 quarters for the second quarter, thanks to robust sales of PCs and servers, as well as greater royalty income.
Net profit soared 117 percent quarter-on-quarter and 356 percent year-on-year to NT$11.8 billion (US$361 million) during the quarter ending June 30, compared with NT$5.45 billion in the first quarter and NT$2.59 billion in the second quarter last year.
Earnings per share jumped to NT$15.9 from NT$7.3 the previous quarter and NT$3.5 a year earlier.
Photo: Cheng I-hwa, AFP
Nonoperating profit last quarter totaled NT$4 billion, including NT$1 billion of royalty income from licensing its 3G, 4G and 5G communications intellectual property (IP), Asustek said.
“We are seeing high demand for those communications technologies used in a variety of devices, including next-generation vehicles. We are expecting a growing number of devices and companies using those IP in the future,” Asustek cochief executive officer S.Y. Hsu (許先越) told an online investors’ conference yesterday.
“Thus we are optimistic about increases in royalty income over the next few years. We are expecting royalty income to reach NT$1 billion every year,” Hsu said.
By product, servers outshone all other segments last quarter, Asustek cochief executive officer Samson Hu (胡書賓) said.
The server business contributed 10 to 15 percent of the company’s total revenue last quarter, versus less than 10 percent in the first quarter, Hu said.
Asustek expects server revenue to increase fivefold this year from 2022, rather than in 2027 as it forecast previously.
Asustek also expects PC shipments to expand between 15 percent and 20 percent quarter-on-quarter this quarter, fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) PCs. PCs contributed 56 percent of the company’s revenue last quarter.
The company aims to seize 25 percent of the world’s AI PC market, up from 20 percent, it said.
Shipments of components and servers are to increase between 5 percent and 10 percent quarter-on-quarter this quarter, Asustek said.
Most servers shipped later this year would be mostly equipped with Nvidia Corp’s H100 and H200 graphics processing units (GPUs), the company said.
Asustek declined to comment on reports that Nvidia’s new Blackwell GPU solutions would be delayed due to design flaws. The PC vendor said it would match its partner’s pace in rolling out new servers outfitted with the latest GPU solutions. Servers powered by new GPU solutions are in the process of being certified by customers, it said.
Asustek is seeking to hit the high end of its operating margin target of between 4 percent and 5 percent this year, chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) said.
The company’s operating margin climbed to 7.8 percent last quarter, from 4.1 percent in the first quarter and 1.1 percent in the same period last year.
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