Inventec Corp (英業達) has approved an investment plan of up to US$85 million to purchase commercial property and establish a manufacturing base in Texas, as the company seeks to address logistics and shipping needs for its artificial intelligence (AI) server business.
The company’s board of directors approved the investment to support the global strategic expansion of its US subsidiary, stabilize cooperation with existing clients, fulfil customer shipping requirements, explore new markets and mitigate the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, Inventec said in a regulatory filing on Monday.
Inventec is searching for a suitable production site in Texas, with the process expected to be completed between next month and December, the company said, adding that the project would be financed through a combination of operational funds and bank loans.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
“The manufacturing base would primarily serve our server product lines,” an Inventec official told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday. “The decision was made by putting ourselves in our clients’ shoes, as they are the ones bearing the tariff costs. We are trying to meet their needs.”
The planned US$85 million investment does not cover spending on machinery and equipment, with details such as the production timeline still under development, said the official, who requested anonymity.
Inventec president Jack Tsai (蔡枝安) in January told reporters that the company had been seeking locations in the US that could provide a stable electricity supply for its planned manufacturing base, with Texas among the potential sites under consideration.
While the company has already established factories in Mexico to produce servers, notebook computers and automotive electronics, it has been considering expanding into the US, as server products are typically too large and costly to ship.
In addition to Inventec, Wistron Corp (緯創) subsidiary Wiwynn Corp (緯穎) has also accelerated its investment in the US this year in response to Trump’s tariffs.
Wiwynn’s board of directors in February approved a US$300 million capital injection into its US unit to expand operations and establish a new factory in Texas.
Responding to regional production demands, Wiwynn has shifted from an asset-light model — relying primarily on Wistron’s production capacity — to building its own manufacturing facilities over the past few years, with factories now operating in Mexico, the Czech Republic, Taiwan and Malaysia.
“The company will continue to expand and adjust its production capability according to the market need,” Wiwynn chairwoman Emily Hong (洪麗甯) said in the company’s annual shareholders’ report released on Monday.
The company has relocated its Chinese factories elsewhere over the past few years, the report said.
Its assembly plants in Malaysia achieved mass production in 2023, while its motherboard production lines began mass production in the fourth quarter of last year. Wiwynn’s third plant in Mexico also started mass-producing server products in the first half of last year, it added.
With the added capacity and ongoing expansion at its plant in the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區), the company’s in-house motherboard production capacity has increased five-fold, while its final-assembly capacity has more than tripled, the report said.
Wiwynn remains optimistic about long-term growth in data center demand, and plans to continue investing in research and development related to AI, computing and heat dissipation technologies, Hong said.
The company also plans to deepen cooperation with technology partners to develop products across a range of computing platforms, including central processing units, graphics processing units and application-specific integrated circuits, while enhancing its advanced cooling and final-assembly capabilities, she said.
To adapt to shifting global trade conditions, Wiwynn would continue implementing automation and smart manufacturing technologies, strengthen client communications and leverage its global production network to ensure stable and flexible operations, she added.
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