Compal Electronics' server team has shifted its operation focus from cloud to edge computing, and is vying for orders for edge computing servers from China's top-3 telecom carriers, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
Compal declined to comment on its business strategy.
With China keen on 5G development, local telecom carriers are expected to procure more servers to establish edge computing infrastructures.
Because of 5G's high-speed transmission, low latency and wide area coverage, the developments of many emerging applications including Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous driving, Industry 4.0 and VR/AR, are expected to dramatically benefit from the network.
The idea of creating edge computing infrastructures has become popular, as sending all data to the back-end cloud computing system will create heavy workload on the platform and edge computing systems are able to share some of the workload.
Compal president Martin Weng previously said that the company's server shipments will have a chance to achieve double-digit percentage growths in both 2019 and 2020. Currently, the company is supplying servers primarily to brand clients and expects the business to stand a chance of turning profitable in 2020.
At the moment, the edge computing sector has two hardware standards: one is Facebook's Open Edge and the other one is China telecom carriers' Open Telecom IT Infrastructure (OTII). The two standards are different, but both sides reportedly have mulled the possibility of integration. However, they so far have not yet set a timetable.
Compal eying edge computing server orders
Photo: Digitimes file photo
Article translated by Joseph Tsai
