On August 27, AI server giant Supermicro was accused of accounting violations, inadequate disclosure of related party transactions, and evading sanctions by selling products to Russia by short-seller Hindenburg Research.

In addition, Supermicro announced on August 28 that it would delay the release of its annual report, potentially facing order withdrawals. Industry sources also believe this news presents a chance for Supermicro’s competitor Dell to gain market share.

Besides Dell, a report from Commercial Times also points out that Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) could benefit from the shift in orders, potentially boosting shipments for its Taiwanese supply chain partners such as Wistron, Inventec, Quanta, and Foxconn.

The report from Commercial Times also cite sources, suggesting that this shift could provide Gigabyte, which is actively promoting its liquid-cooled products for NVIDIA’s H200 series, with  opportunities in the second half of the year.

Wistron, as a key supplier of motherboard and GPU accelerator cards for NVIDIA’s Hopper and Blackwell GPU, is not only a major supplier for Supermicro’s server motherboards but also for Dell. Its clients include HPE and Lenovo as well, which makes the company one of the primary beneficiaries.

Similarly, Inventec, one of the server motherboard suppliers, is also expected to benefit if the shift in orders boosts Dell, HPE, and Lenovo.

Moreover, one of Supermicro’s largest clients, CoreWeave, is transitioning to become a cloud computing service provider specializing in GPU-accelerated computing.

This shift has increased demand for GPU-accelerated computing and liquid cooling solutions. Reportedly, it’s believed that Gigabyte, which holds orders from CoreWeave, could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the upcoming order shift.

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• [News] Supermicro Faces Order Withdrawal Crisis, Potentially Benefiting Dell
• [News] Quick Couplings’ Buying Surge Reportedly Leads to AI Server Component Shortage Brought up by Supermicro

(Photo credit: Supermicro)

While HP is making a move to withdraw over half of its PC production lines from China, according to a report from Economic Daily News, ODM such as Quanta and Inventec have already started setting up operations in Thailand to address their clients’ need to reduce geopolitical risks by shifting supply chain.

Reportedly, HP is planning to transfer its manufacturing base to Thailand, with the ultimate goal of having 70% of its laptops manufactured outside of China.

As early as July last year, it was rumored that HP intended to follow the example of brands like Dell and Apple in promoting supply chain diversification by moving PC production lines out of China to locations such as Thailand and Mexico.

Amid ongoing US-China tensions, ODMs have accelerated their expansion into the Southeast Asian market post-pandemic. Quanta established a plant in Thailand as early as 2019 to meet customers’ needs for diversified manufacturing sites. Currently, its Thailand facility produces servers, consumer electronics, and laptops.

Initially, Quanta’s Thailand plant primarily focused on manufacturing Chromebooks and other consumer products. However, due to lower-than-expected customer orders, Quanta expanded its server capacity and pursued laptop manufacturing orders.

With HP increasing its production in Thailand, Quanta aims to leverage its years of established presence in Thailand to secure more orders.

For the past two years, Quanta has reportedly accelerated its expansion of overseas capacity. This year, its capital expenditures are expected to increase to NTD 10 billion, up from NTD 8.8 billion last year, marking a 13.6% year-on-year increase and surpassing the 10 billion threshold. This investment will support expansion needs in Europe, the US, Thailand, and Mexico.

Inventec originally planned to assist HP with laptop production in Mexico, but with HP deciding to relocate its main production base to Thailand, Inventec has urgently rented local plant space to secure customer orders.

At the end of last year, Inventec announced a USD 152 million investment in a new plant in Thailand to produce laptops and servers. Server production line is expected to be completed by the end of this year, with operations beginning in the first quarter of next year, while laptop production line is also expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.

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• [News] NVIDIA Reportedly Facing Price Cut Pressure of H20 Chip in China Amid Competition with Huawei
• [News] NVIDIA’s China-Exclusive H20 to Begin Pre-sales Next Month

(Photo credit: HP)

NVIDIA’s next-generation Blackwell architecture AI superchip is about to ship. According to a report from Commercial Times, on July 29 during the SIGGRAPH conference in Denver, USA, NVIDIA announced a series of software updates and revealed that samples of the new AI chip architecture Blackwell have been distributed, sparking optimism about the company’s continued record-breaking performance.

Industry sources cited by the report have indicated that the Blackwell series is regarded by Jensen Huang as the most successful product in history. It is expected to drive a new wave of AI server data center construction by cloud service providers (CSPs).

The report notes further that in addition to TSMC’s 4nm process being in high demand, the increasing penetration of water cooling technology, which is projected to reach up to 10%, is likely to benefit Cooling Distribution Unit suppliers such as Vertiv, as well as companies like Asia Vital Components, AURAS Technology, Delta Electronics, and Cool IT.

Furthermore, the new AI superchip is expected to start shipping to clients in the fourth quarter, with full-scale production set for 2025. Assembly plants will also benefit, including Wistron, Foxconn (through its subsidiary Ingrasys), which are involved in front-end manufacturing of substrates, computing boards, and switch boards.

Companies such as Wiwynn, Quanta (Quanta Cloud Technology), Inventec, GIGABYTE, ASUS, and ASRock are also expected to see increased orders for their rack-mounted systems. Among these, Quanta, Wiwynn, and Inventec have indicated that their related products are expected to start shipping in the fourth quarter, with further increases in volume anticipated in the first half of next year.

The NVIDIA Blackwell platform is set to become the main solution for NVIDIA’s high-end GPUs. TrendForce estimates that GB200 NVL36 shipments are expected to reach 60,000 units in 2025, with Blackwell GPU usage between 2.1 to 2.2 million units, making Blackwell the mainstream platform and accounting for over 80% of NVIDIA’s high-end GPUs.

TrendForce observes that the GB200 NVL36 architecture will initially utilize a combination of air and liquid cooling solutions, while the NVL72, due to higher cooling demands, will primarily employ liquid cooling.

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• [News] NVIDIA Reportedly Developing Tailored Version of the Blackwell Series for Chinese Market
• [News] NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Estimates Blackwell Chip Price Around USD 30,000 to USD 40,000

(Photo credit: NVIDIA)

The heightened tensions between China and the U.S. are expected to escalate further. According to a report from Commercial Times, this has been reflected in the past quarter’s increased demand for AI servers among Chinese Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and enterprises.

Following NVIDIA’s recent rush orders, Taiwanese server manufacturers such as Inventec, Wistron, and Foxconn are also experiencing increased demand for H20-related orders from Chinese customers. Reportedly, these orders are expected to ramp up in the third and fourth quarters.

Industry sources cited by the same report further indicate that NVIDIA’s recent rush order, with a scale of 100,000 H20 units, is expected to be fulfilled by mid-fourth quarter. While Wistron, a major substrate supplier, started to ramp up shipments from late second quarter.

Inventec, which benefited from strong H20 demand from Chinese customers in the first half of the year, is said to be seeing a shift in AI server shipments to predominantly U.S. customers in the second half. However, the demand from Chinese customers has not disappeared and is expected to continue providing momentum for Inventec’s performance.

SuperMicro, which is reportedly expanding its server sales business in the Chinese market through the channel resources of Taiwanese graphics card manufacturer Leadtek, is also expected to bring positive benefits to Leadtek’s sales operations in China and Northeast Asia. Additionally, with the recovery of its own AI workstation business and the expected demand for H20 from Chinese customers, Leadtek is likely to become one of the major beneficiaries of the surge in orders from Chinese clients in the second half of the year.

On the other hand, due to the impact of U.S. chip restrictions, it’s hinted that some Chinese customers are increasingly leasing high-end AI computing power services from global companies to meet the current AI model training needs.

This trend is indirectly boosting the order pull for high-end AI server products from Tier 2 and Tier 3 data center operators in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, simultaneously providing shipment momentum for related Taiwanese manufacturers.

According to sources cited by Commercial Times, the demand for H20 orders from Chinese customers has been quite unstable this year, with sudden spikes of urgent orders.

However, as the confrontation between China and the U.S. might intensify due to the upcoming U.S. presidential election, Chinese companies may be prompted to increase their demand for H20 in the coming quarters. This could significantly boost the AI server business for related Taiwanese manufacturers in the second half of the year.

Regarding the need for H20, TrendForce previously mentioned that Chinese companies would continue to buy existing AI chips in the short term. NVIDIA’s GPU AI accelerator chips remain a top priority—including H20, L20, and L2—designed specifically for the Chinese market following the ban.

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• [News] NVIDIA Reportedly Facing Price Cut Pressure of H20 Chip in China Amid Competition with Huawei
• [News] NVIDIA’s China-Exclusive H20 to Begin Pre-sales Next Month

(Photo credit: NVIDIA)

In late March, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang personally delivered the first high-end DGX H200 AI server to customer OpenAI. According to a report from Commercial Times, following this, the upstream chips for the H200 AI-GPU entered mass production in late Q2, with large-scale deliveries expected from Q3 onwards.

Downstream companies, including Inventec, Quanta (QCT), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Supermicro, and Lenovo, have reportedly listed the H200 products as ready for shipment, with deliveries anticipated to begin in the second half of the year.

The same report, citing sources, indicates that current pending orders are still largely focused on the H100 in the HGX architecture, with the H200’s share remaining limited. The H200 shipments expected in Q3 will primarily be NVIDIA’s DGX H200. As for the B100, there is already some visibility, with shipments expected in the first half of next year.

Despite the CoWoS production capacity catching up and a significant easing in the supply of AI GPUs, due to the allocation system, the delivery time for the main H100 GPU shipments from various end-system partners can still reach up to 20 weeks.

However, major Taiwanese manufacturers such as Quanta, Inventec, Wistron, Gigabyte, and ASUS have seen a substantial boost in their overall server operations, driven by AI server business in the first half of the year. They are reportedly optimistic about AI server shipments in the second half of the year, expecting strong demand to continue, making the server business effectively free from any off-season throughout the year.

Among them, Wistron holds a significant advantage in the production and supply of H100 series substrates and the subsequent B100 series GPU modules and substrates. Starting from the second quarter, Wistron’s AI server-related business has shown high visibility, providing strong support for its overall operations.

On the other hand, the H20 series, an AI chip tailored for China due to U.S. chip restrictions, has also seen demand in the Chinese market. As NVIDIA recently secured a rush order for the H20 series, Taiwanese companies, including Wistron and Inventec, are expected to benefit.

Read more

• [News] Taiwanese AI Server Supply Chain to Benefit from Apple’s Potential Collaboration with Baidu and Alibaba
• [News] Rumored Sharp Drop in H100 Server Black Market Prices in China Raises Concerns Over Market Stability

(Photo credit: NVIDIA)