How Wistron’s early Nvidia bet made it an unsung winner of the AI boom—and one of the biggest risers on this year’s Global 500

For Wistron chair Simon Lin, overseeing one of the biggest growth stories in global tech is all about being in the right place at the right time—and making the right bet. 

Eight years ago, the Taipei-based electronics manufacturer hitched its star to Nvidia. As the chipmaker’s fortunes have soared in the AI age, so too have those of the far lesser-known company that got its start as a spinoff of laptop maker Acer and now builds the servers that hold Nvidia’s chips. 

Wistron reported $70.2 billion in revenue in 2025, more than double the year before. Servers accounted for 70% of total sales. In the first half of 2026, revenue already hit $55 billion. (Wistron is No. 198 on this year’s Fortune Global 500, a rise of 298 spots from the year before; it’s the largest jump on this year’s ranking.)

Wistron’s fate illustrates how the AI wave is reaching beyond trillion-dollar chipmakers and LLM developers to lift the firms manufacturing the hardware behind the revolution. But it’s a classic corporate comeback, too; Wistron teamed up with Nvidia at the lowest point in Wistron’s history, then rode the AI boom into a new era of growth. 

“Even during dark times, you need to make yourself ready for any change in the future,” Lin says. 

Lin, 72, has been in the computer industry for decades. He joined Acer in 1979, a few years after its founding. He’s the man credited by Acer cofounder Stan Shih with coining the “smiling curve” economic model, which posits that the lowest margins are found in the middle of the supply chain—namely, in assembly and manufacturing—while higher margins accrue at either end: during design and at final........

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