Wistron Corp (緯創), one of Nvidia Corp’s major artificial intelligence (AI) server suppliers, plans to significantly boost its capital expenditure to NT$35 billion (US$1.07 billion) this year, up 83 percent from NT$19.5 billion last year.
One-third of the expenditure would be earmarked for AI-related capacity expansion in Taiwan, Wistron chairman Simon Lin (林憲銘) told investors on Monday.
A smaller portion of the outlay would be for production expansion in the US, he added.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
Wistron operates install bases in California and Texas, which can be easily converted into production lines if needed, Lin said.
“Such scale of capital expenditure increase reflects our customers’ growth momentum in 2025. A majority of them are AI-related products. At the beginning of this year, our major customer showed up and gave its support,” Lin said, referring to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) presence at the company’s employee event in Taipei.
“We are expecting top-line and bottom-line growth in 2025,” Lin said, adding that revenue is expected to grow 23 percent from last year’s record-high of NT$1.05 trillion.
Despite the US’ threat of a 25 percent tariff on Mexican goods, Wistron will continue expanding AI-related capacity in Mexico at the request of its key customer in North America, Wistron said.
Customers would absorb the increases in manufacturing costs stemming from tariffs, it said.
The company has started shipping GB200 products to its key customer and is on track to ship GB300 products, Wistron president Jeff Lin (林建勳) said.
Wistron — which makes graphics processing unit (GPU)-based AI servers, GPU accelerator cards, AI modules and AI server racks — expects servers and AI-related products to contribute more than 50 percent of the company’s total revenue this year.
PC and notebook computer manufacturing will constitute the remaining revenue, it said.
Asked whether Wistron would help customers assemble humanoid robots, Lin said the company would focus on supplying software and key components for robots, rather than low-value assembly.
Wistron recorded net income of NT$17.45 billion for last year, a surge of 52 percent from NT$11.47 billion in 2023. That translated into earnings per share of NT$6.11, up from NT$4.08 the previous year.
The company’s board of directors has approved a cash dividend of NT$3.8 per share, representing a payout ratio of 62 percent.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
Nvidia Corp’s negotiations to invest as much as US$100 billion in OpenAI have broken down, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, exposing a potential rift between two of the most powerful companies in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. The discussions stalled after some inside Nvidia expressed concerns about the transaction, the WSJ reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the deliberations. OpenAI makes the popular chatbot ChatGPT, while Nvidia dominates the market for AI processors that help develop such software. The companies announced the agreement in September last year, saying at the time that they had signed a letter of intent for a strategic