(Reuters) – Shares of Super Microcomputer, a server maker specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), fell more than 9% in pre-market trading on Wednesday after the company missed expectations for quarterly profit and sales due to delivery delays related to design changes.
The company said “design win upgrades” boosted its expected first-quarter revenue by about $1.5 billion this quarter after a large number of customers requested configuration changes to their graphics processing unit (GPU) racks.
CEO Charles Liang said the delay is primarily due to the complexity of these new graphics processing unit racks, which require complex integration, testing and validation.
“The profit opportunities are dramatically different from those in the AI computing space, and as AI server leaders continue to sacrifice margins to participate in large trades, there is limited upside for investors to be excited about,” JPMorgan analysts said.
Super Micro has become a central player in the AI server boom, supplying high-performance systems to data centers competing to scale up. The company’s rapid growth and close relationship with Nvidia are attracting investors, but analysts say the sector’s pace exposes execution risk and margin volatility.
The company’s close partnership with Nvidia has enabled it to be first to market with fully integrated systems built around new GPU architectures, including Nvidia’s Blackwell Ultra series, a key driver of Super Micro’s $13 billion GB300 order, establishing itself as a key supplier in the AI infrastructure race.
“Supermicro’s pursuit of low-margin businesses and deep ASP discounts to secure GB300 orders is not fully reflected in its current valuation,” Susquehanna analysts said.
The company raised its full-year sales forecast to at least $36 billion from $33 billion, and expected second-quarter sales of $10 billion to $11 billion, well above Wall Street’s $7.83 billion estimate.
Supermicro is up nearly 56% so far this year and trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.94, compared to 9.75 for Hewlett Packard Enterprise and 14.11 for Dell Technologies.
(Reporting by Rasika Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandi)
