As it marks its 20th anniversary in 2025, WPG Holdings, Asia’s largest semiconductor distributor, finds itself at the intersection of two disruptive forces: the generative AI boom and renewed tariff uncertainty stemming from US President Donald Trump’s trade agenda. WPG chairman Simon Huang said these dual pressures are creating a ripple effect across the industry and reshaping business fundamentals. Despite an unpredictable macroeconomic outlook for 2025, the company is proactively recalibrating its strategy to maintain competitiveness.

Artificial intelligence remained the undisputed centerpiece at COMPUTEX 2025, where the industry’s most advanced hardware — from chips and compute trays to full-scale AI server racks and liquid-cooling systems — took center stage. But this year, unlike the largely conceptual displays of 2024, the spotlight fell on real, production-ready systems. And behind nearly every rack, tray, and cable, Taiwan’s manufacturing muscle was on full display.

OpenAI expanded its Asian presence to Seoul in May 2025, marking its third regional office after Japan and Singapore as the ChatGPT maker seeks to capitalize on South Korea’s rapidly growing AI adoption and comprehensive technology ecosystem.

While rival Innolux accelerates its push into FOPLP with plans for mass production in late 2025, AUO is taking a more cautious path. CEO and President Frank Ko explained that, despite industry-wide interest in FOPLP over the past year, AUO has chosen not to commit significant resources to the technology, at least for now.