Mitsubishi Electric Corp is struggling to meet sustained global demand for optical components used in data centers powering artificial intelligence (AI).
The Tokyo-based maker of factory automation is a key supplier of optic fiber communication devices that link servers to one another. AI’s appetite for high speed and high volume calculations is propelling sales of Mitsubishi Electric’s devices, which boast low power consumption and heat emission, said Masayoshi Takemi, an executive officer in charge of the company’s semiconductor and devices business.
The company next month plans to ramp up production capacity for optical devices to a level 50 percent above last year’s.
Photo: AFP
“But that won’t be enough to meet the strong level of inquiries we’re getting,” Takemi said in an interview. “We may need double what we’ll have in September.”
Mitsubishi Electric controls almost half of the global market for optical transmission devices in data centers, in part because of its electro-absorption modulated laser diodes’ ability to balance both speed and output, the company said.
It would not be an exaggeration to say all US hyperscalers are Mitsubishi Electric customers, Takemi said, without naming clients.
The US is home to some of the world’s biggest hyperscalers — Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Apple Inc.
The executive’s comments are the latest sign of continued hunger for AI infrastructure, even as investors struggle to price the technology’s impact on companies’ sales.
Demand from the top five data center providers in the US is “very strong” and “still growing,” Takemi said.
Next-generation data centers are operating at speeds of 800 gigabits per second to 1.6 terabits per second, up from previous levels of about 400 gigabits per second, according to optical communications market research firm LightCounting.
Optical devices comprise a tiny part of Mitsubishi Electric’s business, which ranges from factory robots to train systems to power plant controls to satellite equipment. The semiconductor and devices arm earned less than 4 percent of the company’s revenue last fiscal year, with power semiconductors used in industrial machines and electric vehicles making up almost 90 percent of that sliver.
On Japan’s power chip sector, where Mitsubishi Electric competes with domestic rivals Rohm Co and Toshiba Corp, Takemi said he did not see an urgent need for consolidation. China is boosting output of such chips, providing heavy subsidies in a bid to raise its technological self-sufficiency.
Japan has also been beefing up support to boost production of such chips, but concern is growing that the nation could fall behind in a fragmented market.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
RSS