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.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
RSS