Wistron posts a record NT$1.15 trillion AI-server quarter funded by a $1.47 billion share sale

Wistron's board met on November 11 and did two things at once ²³. It approved the accounts for a record third quarter↗, revenue of NT$1,149.09 billion against NT$567.81 billion a year earlier, net income of NT$18.40 billion against NT$7.41 billion, and it signed off NT$12.87 billion of new capacity in Taiwan, NT$11.93 billion at Southern Taiwan Science Park and about NT$940 million at Zhubei AI Smart Park ²³. New lines can come online as early as 2027, for customer demand expected in 2028. ²³

The boom is real, the profit is thin

AI servers carried it: AI products are 80% of January-to-September revenue, which rose 97.2% to NT$2.89 trillion, with profit after tax up 122.7%. ⁴ October kept the pace, NT$402.6 billion, up 117.6% year on year, the fastest among the big assemblers after Gigabyte. ⁵ But gross margin fell to 5.9%↗, below the 6% to 8% Wistron held for four years, as rack-scale mix and component prices took their cut ³. A 1.6% quarterly profit margin means every unit of growth eats working capital first. ³

Shareholders and lenders are funding the ramp

Not operations. Levered free cash flow over the trailing twelve months is minus NT$124.32 billion, debt to equity sits at 123.10%, and cash on hand is NT$157.02 billion ¹⁹. In September the company priced 25 million depositary receipts at $58.88 each, $1.47 billion, a 7.29% dilution, explicitly to buy raw materials; the stock fell more than 6% on the news. ¹⁹ Shareholders and lenders are paying for 2028. ¹

Booked for 2028, permitted nowhere yet

Here is the tension. Data centers average 33 months from announcement to first power, so the demand Wistron is building for in 2028 is being booked now, from a 120 GW signed-load pipeline in the US↗. ⁷ But the governors elected this month in Texas, Georgia, Ohio and Michigan campaigned on halting new data center construction, and Ohio voters backed all 21 local restriction measures ⁶. A Taiwan analyst already calls 2028 the dangerous year, and names Wistron among the most exposed. ⁶

Cheap on earnings, expensive to fund

At NT$171, 14.7 times trailing earnings and 0.20 times sales, Wistron is the cheapest listed way to own AI racks ⁵. The price is not the risk. The funding model and the permit calendar are. Watch the November revenue filing, due December 10, and the first Texas or Ohio permit decision. ⁵