Wistron Chairman Lin Hsien-ming: AI Demand Stable, Supply Chain Still Ramping Up Capacity

Taipei, Taiwan (CNA) - July 2, 2024 - Wistron Corporation Chairman Lin Hsien-ming stated today that demand for artificial intelligence (AI) remains quite stable and the industry is still facing a supply-demand imbalance, with all parties in the supply chain striving to increase production capacity. Lin made these remarks to the media after attending the Wistron Education AI Talent Forum.

When asked about potential material shortages, Lin said, "That's not my responsibility," but he believes "it should all be resolved." He reiterated that with sustained stable AI demand, the industry will do its best to meet capacity needs.

Lin pointed out that in response to the urgent demand for AI computing power, Wistron announced last year the provision of 1 million hours of AI computing services. However, demand in the first half of this year already reached 1.2 million hours, indicating that the originally planned computing power "appears to be insufficient." Wistron has decided to donate an additional 1.2 million hours in the second half of the year, bringing the total to 2.4 million hours for the year.

However, Lin admitted that even with the increased allocation to 2.4 million hours, it might still not be enough given the very strong volume of applications expected in the latter half of the year. More than simply providing computing power, he hopes to see people "know how to use it," and anticipates users will have long-term plans to create new applications, new methodologies, or new business models. Wistron's provision of computing power is "just a starting point."

He revealed that Wistron's internal token (the smallest unit of AI computation) usage is astonishing, and the company is evaluating ways to improve token efficiency. As Wistron itself is a large-scale user and producer of computing power, whether the large volume of tokens generated internally can be monetized or utilized in other ways will be Wistron's next step in evaluating its transformation.

Lin stated that this is a long-term process of industry-wide transformation. Taiwan cannot remain stuck in the traditional mindset of "making devices" but must learn how to utilize computing power. "Being able to use it is what truly creates value." Through deep collaboration with emerging cloud service providers like Neocloud, Wistron can gain a clearer understanding of the actual needs of application-end users and system design, which will help optimize the entire solution. (Editor: Lin Chia-han) 1150702

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