Computer Memory

Super Micro Inc is a California-based hardware manufacturer that specialises in rack solutions, networking devices, blades, servers, workstations and server management software. The company came into being back in 1993, when Charles Liang, Sara Liu, and Wally Liaw got together with the common goal of producing high quality computer hardware in the global market.

Just 2 years ago, Super Micro was ranked within the 20 fastest growing enterprises by Fortune Magazine. Situated in Silicon Valley, the company has its own ‘Green Computing Park’ at its California HQ, as it has a keen environmental conscience, reflected in the construction of its flagship building.

Nearly Zero Net Energy Building
The building is a menagerie of energy saving technology and provides all but 2% of the energy required to run the building itself via extremely clever features that gather energy from sunlight and other natural renewable sources. Their ‘Keep it Green’ motto is part of the company DNA and is something they are rightly proud of.

Strong and Consistent Growth
Supermicro is experiencing something of a meteoric growth, having increased to 5 times its size in just over 5 years. It is presently the top IT firm in the world in terms of its expansion with annual revenues of $2bn and growing.

The company is a leader in the field of high end computer hardware, servers and IT research and development. As well as doing extremely well on green issues, this is backed up by world-class end to end solutions, big data, HPC, enterprise IT and cloud computing.

Satellite Offices
As well as their California office, Supermicro also has subsidiary offices in the Netherlands and Taiwan. This gives the corporation a global reach to retail its server systems to Europe and the far east through multiple reseller partners. The number of international markets the company is in is quite staggering, boasting as it does, over 800 customers in more than 100 countries.

Despite only being in existence for 25 years (a relatively short time when you consider its current day status), Supermicro offers a massive range of products, from full rack architecture to complete server management and there seems to quite literally be ‘no job too big’ for the company.

Future R&D
Supermicro is a serious innovator and it performs the vast majority of its R&D efforts internally, which ensures that the design teams involved are able to better communicate and collaborate on development, meaning a shorter wait for new, more efficient technology to hit the market.

Foxconn Technology Group Limited is a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer on a global scale, with its headquarters located in New Taipei, Taiwan. Far from being just a well performing multinational, it enjoys a status as the 4th biggest IT company in the world, when measured on annual revenue. The company’s Chinese operation alone represents one of the world’s biggest employers of people by volume and is THE biggest private employer in the Chinese Republic.

Foxconn’s chairman and founder, Terry Gou leads a company that boasts a wide range of prestigious IT clients from the US, China, Europe and Japan. The manufacturer supplies a wide array of hardware for the following well known devices:

• iPad
• Blackberry
• iPhone
• Kindle
• Nintendo 3DS/Wii U
• Playstation 4
• Xbox One

Company History
Back in 1974, the company known now as Foxconn was called Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Ltd and its sole focus was the production of electrical hardware to be used in the manufacturing of home computer systems. One of its most notable early creations were components used in the then Ubiquitous games system from Atari. Electrical connectors made by Hon Hai Precision were central to the success of Atari’s flagship model, the classic 2600.

Branching Out
Having previously operated solely in their native country, the company opened its very first manufacturing plant in China, in Longhua Town, Shenzhen in 1988. The company enjoyed strategic growth over the following years, culminating in Intel dropping previous motherboard supplier Asus in favour of Foxconn and its hardware in 2001.

In 2007, Foxconn made public, plans to build a ½billion dollar manufacturing plant in Southern China to further expand its reach and position in the market.

Acquisition
In the Spring of 2012, the company acquired a 10% stake in Sharp Corporation, for a staggering $806m and would go on to buy a 50% stake in the Japanese giant’s LCD production business. Further expansion occurred in the same year, as Foxconn revealed plans for ½billion dollars worth of investment in the creation of 5 brand new production plants in Itu, Brazil. A move that would create 10,000 much needed jobs in the area.

BuyOut
After a successful collaborative period with Sharp, the decision was made to take full control of the company, by purchasing more than 66% of the available shares in the company. This move cost Foxconn for an estimated in the region of $1billion.

In the modern day, Foxconn still sits at the top table in the electronics hardware manufacturing world and is currently involved in a joint enterprise with Harmony New Energy Auto, a prestigious car dealership, with the sole aim of selling viable fully autonomous electric cars by the beginning of the next decade.

From very humble beginnings, Foxconn has been a major player in their field for around 40 years and will likely be around for a significant amount of time to come.