Motherboard and graphics card maker Gigabyte Technology Co (技嘉) yesterday said that it plans to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) server assembly line in the US in the second half of this year.
The company’s core motherboard and graphics card businesses in the US remain stable, but sales of its higher-priced AI servers still hinge on the development of tariff policies, Gigabyte chairman Dandy Yeh (葉培城) told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taipei.
Yeh was referring to the “reciprocal” tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump on April 2, which were later postponed for 90 days.
Photo: Fang Wei-Chieh, Taipei Times
While Gigabyte is optimistic about market demand this year on the back of AI development and the rollout of new PC processors, uncertainties remain, Yeh said, citing the impact of potential tariff shifts and recent fluctuations in the New Taiwan dollar’s exchange rate against the US dollar.
The sharp appreciation of the NT dollar has inevitably placed pressure on the company’s operations, weighing on gross and operating margins, he said.
“Final calculations have yet to be completed, but there will definitely be foreign exchange losses,” Yeh said. “We hope the impact will be limited, and I still believe second-quarter revenue will remain strong.”
Thanks to strong AI demand and front-loading shipments ahead of potential tariff changes, Gigabyte’s revenue last month surged 55.2 percent month-on-month, and 107.9 percent year-on-year to a record-high NT$46.73 billion (US$1.56 billion).
The company, which also supplies gaming PCs, communication products and other computer components, saw cumulative revenue in the first five months of this year rise 34.3 percent year-on-year to NT$142.57 billion, also a record for the period, it said.
Asked whether the effect of front-loading would fade in the coming months and affect Gigabyte’s revenue momentum in the second half of the year, Yeh said the company would strive to manage the situation.
“The impact [of front-loading] would be limited to the US market alone and would not affect other markets, so we remain optimistic about the second half,” he said.
Gigabyte has partnered with semiconductor distributor Weikeng Industrial Co (威健實業) to expand motherboard sales in China, Yeh said, adding that the companies aim to boost retail sales by bundling Gigabyte motherboards with processors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc, with a focus on the Chinese retail market.
Gigabyte began shipments of its AORUS gaming PCs in March and has continued to develop the segment despite Nvidia Corp’s transition from H200 chips to B200 chips during the first half of this year, he said.
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