Wistron Corp (緯創), a contract manufacturer of servers and notebook computers, yesterday said that its new US plant would begin producing high-performance computing (HPC) devices for customers by the end of next year, as part of efforts to mitigate the impact of US tariffs.
The company has secured its first order for its plant in Dallas, Texas, and is in discussions with other potential customers, Wistron president Jeff Lin (林建勳) told reporters following the annual shareholders’ meeting in Taipei.
Wistron has been operating a plant in Dallas for about a decade, and the new capacity expansion is a continuation of its long-term strategy, not a sudden move, Lin said.
Photo: CNA
The new production line in Dallas would focus on HPC products and feature a high degree of automation, Lin said, adding that the company plans to operate a maintenance service facility at the site.
Asked whether Wistron plans to build new factories in the Middle East, company chairman Simon Lin (林憲銘) said there are no such plans. Instead, Wistron would assist clients with shipping products to the region.
Regarding artificial intelligence (AI) server demand, Simon Lin said Wistron anticipates continued growth, driven by increasing corporate adoption, despite geopolitical tensions and uncertainties surrounding US tariff policies.
Asked whether US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy would affect its AI server orders, Jeff Lin said Wistron is still unable to fully meet customers’ demand, as customers are still increasing computing power to meet the rising demand for AI applications.
“I believe the demand is still there despite the impact of tariffs,” he said.
However, the company is cautious about the potential impact of US tariffs on notebook computers.
The retail prices of notebook computers could go up by 10 percent to 20 percent in the worst-case scenario, he added.
Wistron is seriously considering shifting some notebook computer manufacturing to Mexico, eyeing the preferential tariffs under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Jeff Lin said.
However, no final decision has been made, as production costs in Mexico remain higher than in Asia, he added.
Wistron expects to ship more notebook computers this year compared with last year, attributable to replacement demand due to the end of Microsoft Corp’s Windows 10 operating system and the post-COVID-19 upgrade cycle, he said.
In the first quarter, Wistron shipped 4.9 million notebooks, a 7.55 percent decline from the previous quarter, but a 6.52 percent increase year-on-year, the company said.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
RESHAPING COMMERCE: Major industrialized economies accepted 15 percent duties on their products, while charges on items from Mexico, Canada and China are even bigger US President Donald Trump has unveiled a slew of new tariffs that boosted the average US rate on goods from across the world, forging ahead with his turbulent effort to reshape international commerce. The baseline rates for many trading partners remain unchanged at 10 percent from the duties Trump imposed in April, easing the worst fears of investors after the president had previously said they could double. Yet his move to raise tariffs on some Canadian goods to 35 percent threatens to inject fresh tensions into an already strained relationship, while nations such as Switzerland and New Zealand also saw increased
RSS