TMTPost -- Shares of Super Micro Computer, Inc. surged as much as 17.6% before settling 15.8% higher Monday, registering their best day since May 15. Shares rallied after the server manufacturer which has been benefiting from the artificial intelligence (AI) trend these years announced new shipment data that fueled AI server outlook.
Credit：Super Micro Computer
Super Microsaid it has released a complete liquid cooling solution composing of powerful Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs), cold plates, Coolant Distribution Manifolds (CDMs), cooling towers and end to end management software. The solution can reduce ongoing power costs and Day 0 hardware acquisition and data center cooling infrastructure costs as many organizations require their graphics processing units (GPUs) and central processing units (CPUs) to remain competitive and run constantly, Super Microsaid.
Super Micro disclosed it has shipped more than 100,000 GPUs powered by the latest liquid cooling solution per quarter. “Super Micro recently deployed more than 100,000 GPUs with liquid cooling solution (DLC) for some of the largest AI factories ever built, as well as other cloud service providers (CSPs). With each server approaching 12kW of power needed for AI and high performance computing (HPC) workloads, liquid cooling is a more efficient choice to maintain the desired operating temperature for each GPU and CPU. A single AI rack now generates over 100kW of heat, which needs to be efficiently removed from the data center,” the San Jose, California-based company said. “Datacenter-scale liquid cooling significantly reduces the power demand for a given cluster size. Up to 40% power reduction allows you to deploy more AI servers in a fixed power envelope to increase computing power and decrease LLM time to train, which are critical for these large CSPs and AI factories.”
The shipment suggested Super Micro secured several billions of dollars of GPU order if the average price of a GPU is around the cost of Nvidia’s $30,000 chip. "Assuming it shipped 1,500 of the 2,000 liquid cooled racks at roughly $3 million a rack in September implies roughly $4.5 billion for the month, which would be a good foundation for reaching its 1Q sales-guidance midpoint of $6.5 billion," Bloomberg Intellegence analyst Woo Jin Ho pointed out.
The shipment data eased investors’ concern over the margin decline in AI server, accounting irregulation and related regulatory investigation, at lease for now.
Hindenburg Research, a well-known short-seller, issued a report on August 28 and claimed it found fresh evidence of Super Micro’s accounting manipulation through a three-month investigation. The report noted Super Micro was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for “widespread accounting violations,” mainly related to $200+ million in improperly recognized revenue and understated expenses, resulting in artificially elevated sales, earnings and profit margins. However, the company began re-hiring top executives that were directly involved in the accounting scandal less than 3 months after paying a $17.5 million SEC settlement.
The report cited a lawsuit filed in April 2024 that Super Micro waited only 3 months after the SEC settlement before restarting “improper revenue recognition,” “recognizing incomplete sales,” and “circumvention of internal accounting controls”. Even after the SEC settlement, pressure to meet quotas pushed salespeople to stuff the channel with distributors using “partial shipments” or by shipping defective products around quarter-end, per Hindenburg’s interviews with former employees and customers.
A day after Hindenburg's report release, Super Micro announced it decided to delay its 10-K annual report for fiscal year 2024 ended June 30, 2024. “ Additional time is needed for SMCI’s management to complete its assessment of the design and operating effectiveness of its internal controls over financial reporting as of June 30, 2024,” Super Micro said.
The Wall Street Journal last week reported the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Super Micro nearly a month after short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged "accounting manipulation" at the company. The report quoted people with knowledge of the matter that the probe was at an early stage and that a prosecutor at a U.S. attorney's office recently contacted people who may be holding relevant information.
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