Compare moats
Up to three covered companies, band by band. Every call is a curated editorial judgment, never a disclosed figure — and every band carries its cited basis.
| MiTAC Holdings | Apple | |
|---|---|---|
| Moat rating | none The 2025 annual report (English version filed with TWSE on 2026-05-08) shows fast growth without a protected position. Revenue rose about 72% to NT$105.577 billion while gross profit rose 63%. One customer, Customer A, took 67% of 2025 net sales, up from 56% in 2024, and one supplier, Supplier C, provided 41% of purchases. The report says standard rack-mount server technology "has been relatively mature and there are a large number of ODM firms", and its risk section says "The supply of key components remains dependent on overseas suppliers, and experience in hardware–software integration is still developing". The May 2026 investor deck shows gross margin at 9% in 1Q26, down from 12% in 1Q25. Global Market Insights' AI server ranking (published September 2026) does not name MiTAC among the five largest vendors. No durable advantage is evidenced. | narrow Argued, not assumed. The FY2025 10-K does evidence a real moat in margin: total gross margin percentage rose 44.1% (2023) to 46.2% (2024) to 46.9% (2025) in markets the same filing describes as characterised by 'aggressive price competition, downward pressure on gross margins.' But the filing bounds the claim itself: it concedes 'a minority market share in the global smartphone, personal computer, tablet and wearables markets,' it discloses no retention, active-device or installed-base figure anywhere (its only 'large installed bases of active devices' reference describes competitors), and it discloses that both of the highest-margin layers are already being cut down by force -- Apple is 'currently subject to a court order preventing it from imposing any commission or fee on certain purchases' on the U.S. App Store storefront, has had to open 'alternative methods of distribution for iOS and iPadOS apps, alternative payment processing' in the EU, and warns that a reversal on appeal in the Google search case could impose remedies 'prohibiting Google from offering the Company commercial terms for search distribution.' A moat that earns 46.9% gross margin but whose most profitable layer is being narrowed by two courts and a regulator is narrow, not wide. |
| Moat type | none No single moat source is evidenced. The report describes a business that follows others' platforms: it aligns "with product specifications led by leading technology players", and says that, with mature technology and many ODM firms, "differentiation strategy emerged as the vital issue for all R&D designers". R&D was NT$3.597 billion, about 3% of revenue, and the report counts 200 patents in Taiwan, 197 in mainland China and 222 in Europe, the US and Japan, excluding MiTAC Digital; a patent count alone does not show a barrier. The nearest thing to a switching cost is the depth of its main customer relationship, with Customer A at 67% of sales, and the report says a global cloud platform customer gave MiTAC Computing a 2025 Outstanding Supplier Award. A concentration that large is as much a dependency as a lock-in. | switching costs The 10-K locates the durable advantage in an integrated stack and its third-party ecosystem, not in patents: it names 'a strong third-party software and accessories ecosystem' among the principal competitive factors and states the Company 'designs and develops nearly the entire solution for its products, including the hardware, operating system, numerous software applications and related services,' while explicitly disclaiming IP as the source -- 'No single intellectual property right is solely responsible for protecting the Company's products and services' and the Company 'relies primarily on the innovative skills, technical competence and marketing abilities of its personnel.' The remedies now in force confirm the diagnosis negatively: the same filing describes being required to permit alternative distribution and alternative payment processing in the EU and being barred from charging commission on certain linked-out purchases in the U.S. -- remedies aimed squarely at lowering the cost of leaving Apple's rails, which is what a switching-cost moat is. |
| Leadership | behind No independent tracker ranks MiTAC, and the sources that rank the market leave it out. Global Market Insights' AI server page (published September 2026) names Supermicro, Dell Technologies, Wiwynn, HPE and Inspur as the top five, "which collectively held a market share of 56% in 2025", and names QCT, Lenovo, Foxconn and Wistron among other ODM and OEM participants; it does not mention MiTAC. A US brokerage channel check reported by TechNews (2026-05-12) covers Foxconn, Quanta and Wistron as the three major GB200/GB300 rack assemblers. The annual report's own market-share section gives no share or rank, only "over 20 years of experience in server R&D, design and manufacturing", and its long-term plan is to "solidify our position as a major ODM/OEM for server systems". It also concedes that its hardware–software integration experience "is still developing". Outside the leading group. | fast follower Apple leads on integration and margin rather than on units, and the filing says so: it 'has a minority market share in the global smartphone, personal computer, tablet and wearables markets,' while competitors have 'broad product lines, low-priced products, large installed bases of active devices, and large customer bases.' On the AI axis that defines this graph, Apple is following rather than leading -- it now licenses a rival's frontier models to power Siri (see the Apple Intelligence / Siri row and its citation) while pushing its own advantage down into silicon. |
| Pricing power | weak The May 2026 investor deck gives gross profit margins of 12% in 2024, 11% in 2025, 12% in 1Q25 and 9% in 1Q26, with 1Q26 gross profit up 6% on revenue up 35%. The annual report shows 2025 gross profit up 63% on revenue up 72%. The Taipei Times (2026-05-29) reports that MiTAC Computing's president named shortages and rising prices of DRAM chips, solid-state drives and CPUs as this year's pressure. He said whether the company can secure enough key components and ship on schedule "would directly affect gross margins and operating performance". Margins falling as volume grows, with one customer taking 67% of sales. | strong The 10-K's own gross-margin table: total gross margin percentage 44.1% (2023) to 46.2% (2024) to 46.9% (2025), with Services at 75.4% versus Products at 36.8%, and iPhone net sales rising 'due to higher net sales of Pro models' -- mix moving up, not down. Held against the filing's own hedge that 'gross margins will be subject to volatility and downward pressure,' the realised trend is the stronger evidence. |
| Summary | MiTAC Holdings is a Taiwanese holding company. Its server arm, MiTAC Computing Technology, made 90.1% of 1Q26 revenue of NT$31.86 billion, with MiTAC Digital Technology (dashcams, fleet management and edge AI devices) at 7.8% and MiTAC International at 2.1% (Taipei Times, 2026-05-29). 2025 revenue rose about 72% to NT$105.577 billion on demand from hyperscale data centers and cloud service providers, and the annual report shows a single customer, Customer A, taking 67% of net sales. MiTAC Computing sells under its own brand, which since October 2024 combines the TYAN, former Intel DSG and MiTAC OCP server lines, and as an ODM. It is moving into liquid-cooled AI racks, with a Hanoi factory in mass production and two US factories due to start operating in the third quarter of 2026. The report itself calls standard server technology relatively mature, with a large number of ODM firms. The weak point is pricing power: gross margin was 12% in 2024, 11% in 2025 and 9% in 1Q26 (May 2026 investor deck), and MiTAC Computing's president said securing key components amid shortages would directly affect gross margins. A fast-growing supplier that depends on one customer and has no protected position. | Apple's moat is usually asserted through the ecosystem; the FY2025 10-K neither quantifies nor claims retention, so the evidence has to be read elsewhere in the filing. Where it does show is mix and margin: Services reached $109.2B of $416.2B net sales (+14%) at a 75.4% gross margin against 36.8% on Products, so 26% of revenue delivered $82.3B of the $195.2B total gross margin, and iPhone grew 'due to higher net sales of Pro models.' That profit concentration is also the vulnerability the filing itself flags: Apple 'earns revenue from licensing arrangements with Google LLC and other companies to offer their search services on the Company's platforms,' arrangements 'currently subject to government investigations and legal proceedings' after Google was found to have violated U.S. antitrust laws on August 5, 2024 and the D.C. District Court ordered remedies on September 2, 2025 -- with the 10-K warning that a reversal on appeal could impose DOJ's proposed remedies 'prohibiting Google from offering the Company commercial terms for search distribution,' which 'could materially adversely affect the Company's ability to earn revenue from such licensing arrangements.' Apple never discloses the size of that payment in the filing -- the concentration is admitted but not measured. Alongside it, the App Store toll has already been reduced in both jurisdictions. What is not in dispute is the vertical integration: Apple designs the silicon and now the cellular modem, and uses 'custom components available from only one source.' Read together: a genuine, margin-visible switching-cost moat around an integrated stack, with its two most profitable layers under active legal reduction. |
| Chain position | Server designer and manufacturer selling under its own MiTAC Computing brand and as an ODM. The annual report places it downstream of IC and component makers and lists CPU/chipset, HDD, DRAM, PCB, IC and PSU as key components. The US took NT$74.138 billion of 2025 sales of NT$105.577 billion. | Applications-layer name in the AI chain: the 10-K describes designing 'nearly the entire solution' and using custom components 'available from only one source,' making Apple a large, concentrated buyer of leading-edge silicon rather than a supplier of AI compute to anyone else. |
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| Long-horizon vote | -0.20 at weight 0.20 · swarm neutral Editorial prior, not backtested. | +0.11 at weight 0.20 · swarm bullish Editorial prior, not backtested. |