Lin Tzung-chih, the 85-year-old founder of Taiwan’s King Slide Works, has become the country’s wealthiest individual due to a sharp increase in demand for AI server components. Since the beginning of the year, the company’s stock has surged nearly 280%, reports WSJ.
King Slide manufactures furniture hinges and drawer slides, but also produces rail mechanisms for server racks. These mechanisms support heavy computing equipment and allow it to be extended for maintenance without disrupting the cooling system.
According to WSJ, the firm controls about 80% of the market for high-performance server slides.
King Slide’s Margin Reaches 87%
Demand for the company’s products is growing alongside the construction of data centers and the proliferation of more powerful AI systems. Modern server racks can cost millions of dollars, making the reliability of relatively inexpensive mechanical components critical.
“When an AI server rack costs millions of dollars, customers care more about the quality of the slides than their price,” noted Brady Wang, Deputy Director of Counterpoint Research.
In the last quarter, King Slide’s gross margin reached 87%, compared to about 50% several years ago. For comparison, Nvidia’s margin is around 75%, and TSMC’s is 68%.
King Slide’s Executive Vice President Jay C. Wang attributed this profitability to two decades of engineering developments that have enabled the company to create specialized mechanisms for server equipment.
The business growth has impacted the founder’s wealth. Forbes estimates Lin’s fortune at approximately $20.3 billion. He surpassed Foxconn founder Terry Gou, whose wealth also increased amid the development of AI infrastructure.
Demand Supported by New Server Architectures
Analysts expect continued growth in demand for specialized slides. Cloud companies are transitioning to their own AI accelerators, increasing equipment density, and implementing liquid cooling. This requires redesigning server and rack structures.
The shift by hyperscalers to their own silicon is no longer just an intention. In August, Google secured an option to purchase up to 58.97 million shares of Marvell Technology as part of an expanded AI processor development agreement. Meanwhile, Alibaba announced plans to raise $10.2 billion to develop its AI stack—from computing infrastructure and proprietary chips to models and applications.
Each such accelerator differs in size, heat output, and connectors, requiring its own rack—and its own slides.
Data center density is also increasing. The declared capacity of gas power plants being built in the US for direct data center power supply DC, rose from 97 GW at the end of 2025 to over 189 GW by mid-2026.
Nvidia’s generational change is proceeding at the same pace: SpaceXAI plans to scale the Vera Rubin computing platform to gigawatt capacities.
King Slide is currently expanding its production capacity in Houston, Texas, to serve North American customers. However, competition is intensifying. According to Daiwa Securities, the company’s share in supplying slide kits for Nvidia systems may decrease to about 75% next year as the chipmaker expands its supplier base.
After certifying new manufacturers, major data center operators will also be able to use competition to negotiate lower prices, Wang noted. Despite this, King Slide expects to maintain a direct business dependency on investments in AI infrastructure.
In August, Taiwanese authorities announced the distribution of “AI dividends” to citizens—10,000 TWD (~$314) per resident amid the growth of AI-related industries.
