WASHINGTON: Quanta Computer Inc the world’s largest server and notebook computer manufacturer, plans to expand its server operations in the US in the face of rising demand and US president-elect Donald Trump’s campaign vow to boost US manufacturing, a company executive said.
Quanta Cloud Technology its server subsidiary, plans to expand the production capacity of its two US plants in the next three years, Mike Yang president of QCT and a senior vice president and general manager at Quanta Computer, said in a report by Nikkei Asian Review.
Yang said that QCT has the “upper hand” should Trump’s campaign promise become policy, as the company already has server assembly facilities in Fremont, California, and Nashville, Tennessee.
The demand for more domestic data centers is expected to grow if Trump adopts a protectionist approach in manufacturing, which would help support Quanta’s revenue growth, Yang said in the report. The company plans to double its server assembly facilities, output and headcount in the US in the next three years, Yang said.
Quanta said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday last week that it plans to give QCT a cash injection of US$10 million to fund its operations’ expansion.
Quanta’s cloud-computing segment — which includes server, storage, switch and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices — has been an important revenue growth driver amid a declining notebook industry.
The segment accounted for between 30 and 35 percent of the firm’s total revenue of NT$628.73 billion (US$19.72 billion) in the first three quarters of the year, with sales growing by a double-digit percentage from the same time last year, Quanta said. Its cloud-computing clients include Google, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp and Facebook Inc.
“We expect revenue from this segment to continue increasing by a double-digit percentage next year, supported by the rising demand from telecom operators, enterprises and technology ‘unicorns,’” a Quanta investor relations official said by telephone yesterday.
Company chairman Barry Lam on Nov. 10 told a news conference that the cloud-computing segment would remain Quanta’s main growth driver next year.
Inventec Corp a smaller rival of Quanta in the server business, is mulling the possibility of reopening its server assembly line at its branch in Houston, Texas, in view of a potential change in US manufacturing policy. Inventec mainly assembles servers for its US clients at its plant in Mexico, which employs 1,200 and has a monthly production capacity of 35,000 units, its investor relations official said.
“If Trump’s vow becomes policy, Inventec would likely reopen its assembly line in Houston to meet clients’ needs, despite a possible increase in labor costs,” the official said by telephone. Inventec’s server business accounted for 35 percent of its total revenue of NT$111.65 billion last quarter.
Revenue from this segment surged 20 percent in the first three quarters of the year compared with a year earlier, the company said.
