Apple supplier Jabil raises annual forecast as data center appetite remains strong

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(Reuters) -Electronics component maker Jabil raised full-year profit and revenue forecast on Tuesday, betting on strong infrastructure services demand for data centers.

Shares of the company rose about 5% in premarket trading, after it also surpassed Wall Street estimates for third-quarter results.

Companies rushing to adopt the artificial intelligence technology in their operations have pushed up the need for data centers, which can support vast amounts of computing and complex tasks.

“Our intelligent infrastructure segment remains a critical growth engine, benefiting from accelerating AI-driven demand,” CEO Mike Dastoor said in a statement.

Jabil, a key Apple supplier, separately said on Tuesday it would invest $500 million in the U.S. over the next “several” years to support cloud and AI data center infrastructure customers.

The company expects fiscal 2025 revenue to be $29 billion, compared with its previous forecast of $27.9 billion. It also raised its adjusted profit per share forecast to $9.33 from $8.95 earlier.

Its third-quarter revenue rose 15.7% to $7.83 billion, while analysts’ on average estimated $7.06 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Per-share adjusted profit came in at $2.55, also above expectation of $2.31.

(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)