Cloud computing equipment supplier Wiwynn Corp (緯穎科技) yesterday expressed optimism about its business performance this year, driven by robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and data centers, after posting better-than-expected revenue for the first quarter.
The company earlier this month reported first-quarter revenue of NT$276.5 billion (US$8.79 billion), up 62 percent year-on-year.
First-quarter momentum came from shipments of products supporting platforms based on graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs) and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), as well as server solutions and storage applications, Wiwynn CEO and president William Lin (林威遠) told reporters after the company’s annual general meeting in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止).
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
The growth is expected to remain solid throughout this year, Lin said.
Nvidia Corp’s GPUs remain key for AI training applications, but major cloud service providers are also developing their own ASICs for AI infrastructure, he said.
Wiwynn would seize all kinds of opportunities going forward, he added.
AI servers accounted for about half of the company’s revenue last year, but the proportion might decline slightly this year, as demand for general-purpose servers has increased, Lin said.
Material availability continues to weigh on the AI server industry, he said, citing shortages of memory chips, high-end printed circuit boards, CPUs, multilayer ceramic capacitors and some power-related components.
“At this stage, whoever can secure a complete set of components will have shipment capability,” Lin said, adding that Wiwynn maintains close cooperation with clients and suppliers to ensure stable material supply and deliveries.
In addition, transitions between different ASIC platforms and the accompanying yield issues could also pose challenges in the second half of this year, Wiwynn chairwoman Emily Hong (洪麗甯) said.
The company’s plants in the US and Mexico together contribute about 80 percent of its total revenue, with plans for further expansion in North America, Wiwynn said.
Wiwynn operates three plants in Mexico and one in the US. The company’s operating costs at its new US facility in Texas, which began operations in the fourth quarter of last year, remain higher than at its Mexican plant, but clients are willing to absorb the additional costs, Hong said.
Shareholders yesterday approved proposals to distribute cash dividends of NT$145 per share, the highest ever, and a stock dividend of 200 percent.
That represented a payout ratio of 52.72 percent based on the company’s earnings per share of NT$275.06 last year.
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