Walsin Lihwa Corp (華新麗華) on Tuesday said it plans to scale up its high-margin cold-finished bar capacity next year, as demand for the metal used in artificial intelligence (AI) servers and new energy vehicles increases, adding that it is launching a new brand for its cold-finished bar business, named Steeval.
The company said its cold-finished bars are used in liquid-cooling systems of AI server racks, such as those powered by Nvidia Corp’s GB200 and GB300 chips, but it aims to extend the business into high-margin market segments.
The company said its goal is to expand its cold-finished bar capacity to 180,000 tonnes a year, with 60,000 tonnes each at its operations in Taiwan, China and Europe by the end of next year.
Photo: Lin Jing-hua, Taipei Times
The company’s Taiwan and China facilities have a combined capacity of about 108,000 tonnes a year. It did not disclose the scale of its European capacity.
Walsin Lihwa is the world’s biggest supplier of cold-finished bars mostly used in cars, company vice chairman Wang Shyi-chin (王錫欽) said.
The company has about a 50 percent share of the Chinese market.
About 10 percent of the company’s cold-finished bar capacity is for the metal used in AI servers, but the volume would grow rapidly along with the adoption of liquid-cooling systems, as thermal management is crucial for AI servers, Wang said.
Walsin Lihwa also supplies cold-finished bars to liquid cooling plate makers Asia Vital Components Co (奇鋐) and Auras Technology Co (雙鴻科技) as well as hinge designers such as Fositek Corp (富世達).
To provide new material catering to AI servers, Walsin Lihwa seeks to form partnerships with key component suppliers, corporate strategy and supply chain management president Sherry Ho (何心怡) said.
The company reported that net profit in the third quarter doubled to NT$1 billion (US$31.7 million), from NT$500 million in the second quarter. That represented an annual growth of 180 percent.
Earnings per share rose to NT$0.23 from NT$0.12 in the previous quarter and NT$0.09 a year earlier.
Gross margin dropped to 4.8 percent, from 7.3 percent in the previous quarter and 5.9 percent a year ago. Stainless steel gross margin dipped to 1 percent on sluggish demand, the lowest among the company’s three main businesses. The company said stainless steel products made up about 50 percent of its total revenue past quarter.
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