Shares slid after details of Quanta’s overseas fundraising and a NT$19.7 billion plant purchase sharpened investor concerns over dilution and returns on heavy AI capacity spending.
Quanta Computer’s planned global depositary receipt offering has triggered a sharp market backlash as investors weigh the scale of its fundraising against an accelerating AI capacity buildout. Shares fell more than 9% intraday on July 30, touching their lowest level in nearly five months, after the market learned the company aimed to raise up to $2.2 billion, or about NT$71 billion, through an overseas GDR sale to support expanding production needs. The sell-off came just days after Quanta agreed to buy land, buildings and ancillary facilities in Taoyuan’s Hwa Ya Technology Park from AUO Corporation for about NT$19.7 billion. The purchase covers roughly 65,000 square meters of land and 163,000 square meters of building space, and is widely seen as part of Quanta’s effort to bolster capacity for AI servers and high-performance computing products. The combination of a large equity fundraising and aggressive capital spending has heightened investor concern about earnings dilution and the payoff from AI infrastructure investment. Quanta had previously disclosed board approval on June 16 for a GDR issuance of up to 245 million new shares, with an indicated fundraising range of $2 billion to $2.7 billion. The new market reaction underscores how sensitive investors are to the financing demands of the AI server expansion cycle. For AUO, the transaction was viewed more positively. The company said the disposal of the Hwa Ya plant and related equipment would generate an estimated gain of about NT$13.39 billion after expenses and estimated taxes, supporting its asset-light strategy and financial optimization. AUO shares were comparatively resilient, and exchange data showed Taiwan’s three major institutional investors were net buyers for two straight days, including purchases of more than 15,000 lots on July 29.