KONST has been recognized with the 2025 投資典範獎, an investment model award from Economic Daily News. Founded in 2017 out of a crypto-mining operation, the company pivoted to build what it describes as Taiwan's first private AI compute center, and it is now one of the country's largest private AI compute providers, expanding across the Asia-Pacific region with locally controlled, sovereign AI infrastructure. This is a summary of a Chinese-language feature; the key points are below.
Key points
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From crypto mining to AI compute. The founding team ran a crypto-mining operation in 2017. As mining margins fell, CEO Tsai Ming-chih, COO Li Ying, and their co-founders converted the site into an AI compute center before ChatGPT launched. Its in-house Glows.ai cloud platform — named for "Growth" — offers GPU sharding, real-time billing, and smart scheduling.
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A rental model for AI. Small and midsize companies lack the resources to build a full AI environment on their own but do not want to sit out the shift to AI. KONST's hourly rental model lets customers pay as they go and scale on demand, so they avoid sinking capital into hardware that dates quickly as AI iterates.
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Revenue growth and funding. Revenue reached NT$30 million (US$1 million) in 2024 and passed NT$65 million (US$2 million) in 2025, a growth rate above 50%. The company also completed a US$10 million funding round.
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Asia-Pacific expansion. KONST has set up subsidiaries in Japan and the United States and is partnering with Kumamoto Prefecture on an AI smart-city project. Its reach extends to the Philippines, and it is evaluating entry into Vietnam. The focus on Asia-Pacific reflects both regional demand from smaller enterprises and governments' interest in locally controlled, sovereign AI infrastructure — the same cross-border compute network behind its plan for Asia's largest token factory.
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Early support in Taipei. Taipei's startup grant program helped the company in its early days. Working through the city's business-development office on its plans pushed the team to focus, and after receiving the grant KONST accelerated the move from bespoke work to standardized, modular products.
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Read the full article in Chinese: link
FAQ
Why did KONST win the 2025 investment award?
For growing from a crypto-mining operation into one of Taiwan's largest private AI compute providers through a rental business model and modular compute centers, with self-built nodes across Japan and Southeast Asia.
How has KONST's revenue grown?
Revenue reached NT$30 million (US$1 million) in 2024 and passed NT$65 million (US$2 million) in 2025, a growth rate above 50%, alongside a US$10 million funding round.
Where is KONST expanding?
It has set up subsidiaries in Japan and the United States, is partnering with Kumamoto Prefecture on an AI smart-city project, extends to the Philippines, and is evaluating entry into Vietnam.
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