Wistron Nvidia AI boom lifts server maker up the Global 500

Wistron’s long-running work for Nvidia has turned the Taipei-based electronics maker into a major winner of the wistron nvidia ai boom, according to Fortune. The shift matters because it shows AI spending is lifting companies that build the physical systems behind advanced chips, not only the chip designers themselves.

Fortune reported that Wistron posted $70.2 billion in revenue in 2025, more than twice its total from the previous year. Servers made up 70% of sales, and revenue reached $55 billion in the first half of 2026. Wistron rose 298 places to No. 198 on the Fortune Global 500, the largest climb in this year’s ranking, according to Fortune.

Why is Wistron benefiting from Nvidia's AI boom?

Wistron builds servers that house Nvidia chips, according to Fortune. That position became far more valuable after demand for Nvidia processors surged following OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT in late 2022.

Fortune reported that Wistron began working with Nvidia nearly a decade ago, first helping make graphics cards used in gaming. Simon Lin, Wistron’s chair, told Fortune that graphics cards offered better margins than standard PCs, an important shift for a company that started as Acer’s manufacturing arm.

Wistron was spun out of Acer in 2001, with Lin named chair and chief executive, according to Fortune. Acer cofounder Stan Shih has credited Lin with coining the “smiling curve” model, which says the middle of the supply chain, including assembly and manufacturing, tends to earn lower margins than design or retail.

Fortune reported that Wistron spent years trying to move beyond low-margin computer assembly. It briefly expanded into smartphones, including an iPhone factory in India opened in 2017, but had left that business by 2023 after weak margins and labor unrest at its Karnataka plant.

The AI server surge then forced Wistron to expand quickly. Fortune reported that Nvidia reserved all capacity through 2026 at Wistron’s new 287,000-square-foot server plant in Zhubei, Taiwan, soon after it opened last year. Wistron then leased a nearby textile factory to convert it for additional AI server production.

Lin told Fortune the challenge was practical as much as strategic: new factory space, new workers and new supply chains. He also said AI has compressed product cycles, with new generations arriving every year rather than every two and a half to three years.

What is Wistron building in Texas?

Fortune reported that Wistron’s most important recent overseas projects may be two sites near Fort Worth, Texas, covering 1.09 million square feet and focused on assembling Nvidia AI supercomputers. Wistron made the $761 million investment official last August while President Donald Trump was threatening a 32% tariff on imports from Taiwan, according to Fortune.

Lin told Fortune that the tariff pressure helped push the decision, but the U.S. location later made practical sense. AI servers can weigh more than six tons, according to Fortune, making transport difficult by air or ship.

The Texas factories are expected to create more than 800 jobs, Fortune reported. Lin said Wistron had to ship needed equipment from Southeast Asia because it could not buy it in the U.S., and that workers had to be trained from the beginning.

Wistron also operates facilities outside Taiwan and mainland China in Vietnam, Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil, the Philippines and the Czech Republic, according to Fortune. Lin told Fortune he mainly uses AI for research and is not sure it can replace him in making decisions.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.