Super Micro forecasts upbeat annual revenue on AI boom

Gross margins for the fourth quarter ended June 30 stood at 17.5%, ahead of Super Micro's preliminary estimate of 15% to 17% provided in July and its initial forecast of 8.2% to 8.4%.

"If Super Micro were struggling to fulfill orders or citing supply constraints, resulting in rushed manufacturing or price concessions to move product, margins would compress under that kind of growth, not expand," said Gadjo Sevilla, senior analyst at Emarketer.

Margins beating Super Micro's forecast and the guidance coming in ahead of expectations indicate that "the margin-recovery skepticism is being answered with hard numbers rather than promises."

Revenue nearly doubled to $11.12 billion in the fourth quarter, below estimates of $11.55 billion. The company had signaled in July that quarterly revenue would be near the low end of its prior view of $11 billion to $12.5 billion.

Super Micro Computer forecast fiscal 2027 revenue above Wall Street expectations on Tuesday, betting that strong demand for its AI-optimized servers would fuel another year of growth, sending its shares up 9% in extended trading.

The server maker has been a winner in the race to equip data centers for generative AI, leveraging its close relationships with chipmakers and its reputation for speed-to-market.

AI infrastructure firms have seen demand accelerate as tech companies and cloud providers ramp up investments in data centers to support large language models and other AI applications.

Big Tech companies have signaled that spending on AI would ​not slow down, with combined outlays set to surpass $730 billion this year.

Super Micro expects annual revenue between $65 billion and $72 billion, above analysts' average estimate of $52.50 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.