Asus eyes India AI boom, in talks to supply high-end compute servers beyond PCs

New Delhi: Taiwan-based laptop maker Asus is in talks with the government and local hyperscalers to supply high-end AI compute servers, as it looks to expand in India beyond PCs, co-chief executive Samson Hu told ET.

“Asus has already established a very strong presence in the AI server space here in the Indian market. We have a good partnership with Yotta Data Services. We are also supporting the leading AI technology companies which require a lot of computing power,” Hu said.

He said India’s push to build a sovereign AI stack is driving demand for such servers.


The expansion into data centres comes as the PC market faces supply constraints, with shortages of memory, storage and other components pushing up costs.

Hu said he has not seen such cost increases previously in his career. “There is a severe imbalance between supply and demand, which is largely being driven by the massive surge in demand for AI technologies,” he said.

For its legacy PC business, Asus is working with supply chain partners to secure components through longer inventory terms and multi-year contracts, he said.

The company is also adjusting its product mix to maximise memory efficiency while meeting demand, adding that price increases are inevitable.

“The PC industry is highly competitive with low margins. Companies cannot fully absorb such significant cost hikes internally,” Hu said.

Asus, however, continues to set aggressive targets for India, which Hu said is as important as its home market in Taiwan.

“India is among our top focus markets globally. It is the third largest PC market worldwide after the USA and China. We view India with the same significance as our home country,” the executive said, adding that the company leads in consumer PCs and gaming and is expanding its enterprise business.

Hu said the government’s production-linked incentive scheme for IT hardware and the specific package for components is fully endorsed by Asus. He described the policy as a “very positive step” and plans to increase its domestic manufacturing to support its local business as much as possible.

“We are enabling our local EMS partners like Dixon Technologies and VVDN with our global administration standards and the knowhow,” he said.

“The challenge right now is the capability, how to deal with the production yield rates and how to solve problems that happen during production,” Hu said.

In the initial stages, EMS companies will face these kinds of challenges. There is a natural learning curve, he added.

On exports, Hu said competitiveness will depend on multiple factors, including manufacturing experience and overall cost efficiency, which will improve over time.