TORONTO -- Celestica is expanding at electronics manufacturing sites in Thailand and Malaysia in anticipation of greater demand for hyperscale computing applications, the company said on a conference call this week.

Celestica is raising its capital expenditure budget from 1.6% of revenue -- $125 million -- to 1.75% to 2.25% of anticipated 2024 revenues, said Mandeep Chawla, CFO. The EMS firm expects to front-load the capex spend as it expands capacity in support its customers' AI/ML compute and HPS programs.

In Thailand, Celestica is adding more than 100,000 square feet of capacity over multiple phases. Phase one will come online in the current quarter and phase two is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025. The expansion, Chawla said, is "partially funded by a co-investment with one of our hyperscale customers to facilitate demand for highly specialized data center products."

The Malaysia operations are seeing a slightly smaller expansion, where some 80,000 square feet of capacity is being added for customers in its connective and cloud solutions (CCS) segment. That expansion is expected to come online in the first half this year, Chawla said.