Taiwanese telco and data center operator Chief Telecom posted an 11 percent increase in total revenue for Q1.

Total revenue increased 11 percent year-on-year (YoY) to NT$953 million (US$31.3m), while net profit was up 15 percent YoY to NT$279m (US$9.2m).

Earnings per share (EPS), which have steadily risen since Chief Telecom’s IPO in 2018, jumped 14.8 percent YoY to 3.57 NTD ($0.12). However, this is a drop from Q4 2024, which saw a record-high EPS of 4.08 NTD ($0.13).

The company primarily attributed its growth to AI demand. General manager Liu Yaoyuan said that the company had benefited from the emergence of domestic Taiwanese demand for AI model DeepSeek.

Liu also estimated that the company’s newest data center, the 46,000 sq ft (4,273 sqm) Liyuan 2 (LY2), would reach capacity by the end of 2025 despite opening in mid-2024.

Liu's comments attest to the strength of that demand despite state unease, evidenced by the Taiwanese digital ministry banning government departments from using the China-developed LLM because of privacy and security concerns.

Chief Telecom’s business model has also enabled it to sidestep tariffs. Liu credited Taiwan’s ability to build servers, which enabled the company to service international customers without incurring production costs related to export tariffs.

Taiwan is a prominent player in the contract AI server production industry. Nikkei Asia reported last year that Taiwanese companies like Foxconn and Quanta Computer held 90 percent of the global market. Both companies are based in Taiwan and have extensive factory networks in China.

In comparison, Taiwanese domestic server demand from operators like Chief Telecom is much smaller, forming only four percent of total sales value in January 2025 according to statistics provided by the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs. The remaining 96 percent of total production value was derived from direct export value.

Chief Telecom is primarily a data center operator, with four data centers in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital. It is owned by Taiwan telecoms giant Chunghwa Telecom, and also operates cloud and networking services. The company runs the Taipei Internet eXchange (TPIX).

Taiwan is a growing data center market. Domestic operators include Taiwan Mobile, Chunghwa Telecom, and Chunghwa International Communication Network; international operators include APAC-focused firms like Epoch Digital and Empyrion, and international firms such as Vantage. Google also operates a facility in the western county of Changhua, and the company signed two Power Purchase Agreements for wind and geothermal projects in April.