Altos Computing, a subsidiary of Acer that provides high-performance computing (HPC) and cloud computing solutions, expects to post around 30% sales growth in 2023, owing to increased sales from Southeast Asia markets.
Altos president Jackie Lee pointed out that companies around the world are tightening spending, but government and education tenders are ongoing. Although Altos is small, Lee said they expect their proportion of AI servers will grow thanks to ChatGPT, which will drive revenue and profit performance.
Demand for GPU-equipped servers and workstations significantly increased half a year ago, according to Lee, adding that average unit price and gross profit for AI servers are high. Additionally, through solutions self-developed by Altos or with its partners, Altos can sell software-hardware integration, which adds to revenue and profit.
AI solutions have been very popular recently, Lee said. Solutions like Altos' aiWorks has helped Taiwanese universities build AI campus clouds. As of now, there are 10 universities using aiWorks in Taiwan.
Altos also co-developed Altos SmartCCTV, an intelligent monitoring acceleration and automation service platform that has been introduced to various markets in Asia. The platform provides government agencies, campuses, enterprises, hospitals, and banks with real-time monitoring and smart recognition analysis.
Altos' revenue in 2022 reached NT$1.1 billion (US$36.22 million) for an on-year growth of 133.5%. Altos expects enterprise demand will be affected by wider environmental factors and expenditures will be conservative; however, the government and education markets will continue to invest, which will allow Altos to continue growing in 2023.
Government and education account for more than 60% of Altos' revenue, with the rest coming from enterprise customers. Altos set up subsidiaries in Thailand and India in first-half 2022 to serve nearby customers and seize business opportunities in overseas markets. At present, revenue from the two locations accounts for 35% of overall revenue. The company in Taiwan is responsible for the local market as well as the Philippines and Malaysia. Altos expects revenue from all three locations in 2023 will grow 30% over 2022.
Lee said the growth momentum in India is strong. In addition to local market demand, Acer has a production facility in India, which will help it win bids from the Indian government.
Altos was established in 2017 as a subsidiary of Acer and works with its own R&D team, ODMs, independent hardware vendors, and independent software vendors to provide integrated solutions with commercial servers, workstations, thin clients, networks, and storage equipment. Its customers focus on AI and deep learning development for enterprises, government, education, finance, cloud service providers, and computer room operators.
Article translated by Eifeh Strom
