Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶), Wistron Corp (緯創) affiliate Wiwynn Corp (緯穎) and US company Jabil Inc are set to submit revised offers for Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s (AMD) artificial intelligence (AI) server assembly plants, people familiar with the matter said.
Inventec Corp (英業達) and Pegatron Corp (和碩), which Bloomberg News previously reported were also interested in the assets, have since dropped out of the bidding, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
AMD, which is working with an adviser, has called for refreshed bids to be submitted in the coming days, the people said.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
The US firm is aiming to wrap up the sale by the end of the second quarter, in a deal that could be valued at US$3 billion to US$4 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.
The sale of the US manufacturing assets, which are based in Texas and New Jersey, come at a time when many Taiwanese electronics companies are rushing to build in the US to avoid current or future tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Bidders view the plants as valuable, because they come with 1,500, skilled employees, one of the people said.
AMD inherited the plants through its US$4.9 billion acquisition of ZT Systems, a deal that closed at the end of March. AMD last year said it would offload the manufacturing business to avoid competing with its customers, such as Dell Technologies Inc and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.
The deliberations are ongoing and there is no certainty that AMD would reach a deal.
Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Kunjan Sobhani and Oscar Hernandez Tejada estimated previously that the manufacturing division could sell for US$1.5 billion to US$3 billion.
The server manufacturing operations had revenue of about US$10 billion during the 12 months prior to AMD’s purchase.
For potential buyers, it is a chance to grab facilities used to make servers that are at the heart of the artificial intelligence boom.
Taiwanese firms, including Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), rely on Mexico as a key AI server assembly and parts production hub. Since Trump’s win in November, Hon Hai has secured land in the US and last month said it would announce more investments in the US.
The board of its Taiwanese peer, Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), approved a US$230 million capital increase for its US unit.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
RSS