Since opening to the public at the end of 2022, ChatGPT's user base has continued to grow, surpassing 100 million users. Driven by ChatGPT, cloud service providers are expected to increase their investment in AI training, leading to growth in servers equipped with AI accelerator cards, according to Stephen Chen, industry analyst with MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute). Microsoft, as the largest shareholder of Open AI, has increased its investment by US$10 billion in 2023, hoping to incorporate GPT-3 technology into its entire product line, which includes Azure cloud platform, Edge browser, Bing search engine, and Office. Google has launched Bard AI language model to compete while Meta has introduced the LLaMA AI language model. Cloud service providers in China, including Baidu, Alibaba, and ByteDance, are also actively deploying related technologies.
This trend is beneficial to the Taiwanese server industry, which currently accounts for over 80% of the global server shipments. Shipment volume of the industry is estimated to reach 1.46 million units in the second quarter of 2023, up 18% sequentially and 10% year-on-year. Established in 1987, MIC is a division of III (Institute for Information Industry), a major government think tank, and one of the leading IT research institutes in Taiwan.