Wistron breaks ground on R&D building in Neihu

Taipei, July 14 (CNA) Wistron Corp., one of the leading artificial intelligence server makers in Taiwan, broke ground Monday on a research and development building in Taipei's Neihu District, with construction slated to be completed in 2028.

Wistron President and CEO Jeff Lin (林建勳) said the R&D building is only one kilometer away from its new headquarters, which is also under construction, and will be close to the future headquarters of Wistron's cloud services subsidiary Wiwynn Corp.

Lin said the R&D building plan reflected Wistron's ambitions to set up an AI corridor in Neihu.

Wistron's R&D building, described by the company as an advanced green and AI-driven smart building, will have a total floor area of 9,425 pings, or about 31,157 square meters, with eight floors above ground and four floors under ground.

In an announcement released in early May 2024, Wistron said it had signed a lease with the Taipei City government to secure a 6,408-ping parcel of land for 60 years for the R&D building construction.

Local news media reported Wistron will invest about NT$2.7 billion in the R&D building project.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the R&D building showed Wistron's faith in its future development at a time when the city is looking to transform Taipei into a smart city by linking science parks in Neihu, Nangang, Shilin and Beitou districts to create a tech cluster.

American AI chip designer Nvidia Corp. has decided to open its Taiwan headquarters in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park.

According to Chiang, Wistron's R&D building is expected to create 1,500 jobs.

In addition to Taiwan, Wistron has production sites in the Americas, Europe and Southeast Asia, with Mexico one of its most important outposts.

While the Trump administration has imposed a 30 percent "reciprocal" tariff on Mexico, to take effect Aug. 1, Lin said none of the company's clients have adjusted their orders due to the heavy levy.

Lin said Wistron has various alternative plans in place, and will choose one to ease the impact resulting from the U.S. tariff policies when details of the import duty on goods made in Mexico are announced.

He said the U.S. tariffs are likely to affect the global economy, but demand for AI applications is expected to remain strong, given that the supply of AI servers still cannot meet demand.