Inventec, a major foundry manufacturer, has announced a significant investment of US$151.8 million (approximately NT$4.7 billion) to establish a new server assembly plant in Thailand. This facility is slated for completion by the end of 2024, with mass production scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2025. The company also plans to augment production capacity at its plants in North America, Mexico, and the Czech Republic, further contributing to its revenue growth.
Despite experiencing a downturn in 2023, resulting in a single-digit percentage decrease in annual revenue, Inventec reported notable gains in the third quarter. These were attributed to strategic product mix deployment, driving an increase in gross profit margin. The company achieved a post-tax net profit of 1.873 billion yuan, marking a quarterly growth of 35% and an annual increase of 7%. This performance elevated earnings per share to 0.52 yuan, the highest in the past eight quarters.
Inventec acknowledged challenges in the AI server industry chain, with difficulties in predicting the easing of constraints. However, the company is optimistic about a pickup in shipment momentum in 2024, including contributions from the AI PC to be launched in the latter half of the year. AI server performance, currently contributing 5% to 7% of overall server performance, is anticipated to experience exponential growth.
Inventec’s global footprint in server motherboards is significant, accounting for 20% of global shipments. This year’s shipments primarily included H100 and A100 training AI servers. For the next year, the focus will shift to L40S inference AI servers. The number of projects and overall performance is expected to surpass this year’s figures, with the company’s operating team set to provide a more detailed 2024 outlook at the annual meeting on January 26 next year.
