Elon Musk shared an outlandish goal for Twitter a few days ago, saying he wants his social network to reach 1 billion monthly users within 18 months. That’s an incredibly bold target for a company trying to navigate particularly tumultuous waters after Musk’s acquisition. And it might be challenging to reach if you don’t have the human resources to build the infrastructure to support such an influx. Also, it would be virtually impossible after halting server orders, which a reliable insider claims that Musk’s Twitter just did.
The insider, Ming-Chi Kuo, is known for his many accurate Apple leaks. The analyst has been using his connections within the supply chains in Asia to spoil Apple’s moves. The same connections could yield information about other companies as well, including Twitter.
Kuo took to the social media site itself to say that Twitter has cut orders for new servers by 80% since Elon Musk took over the company. The analyst further explained that most of Twitter servers use Intel chips. Therefore, the cut hurts Intel’s 2023 revenue and profit forecasts, as server processors are one of Intel’s key profit drivers.
Furthermore, Kuo said that Twitter is one of the computer manufacturing company Wiwynn’s top three server clients. News of Twitter’s server cuts “isn’t conducive to Wiwynn’s server shipment momentum in 2023,” the analyst said.
Also, Kuo said that the worst is yet to come in the server market. Shipments may decline next year “lower than the street consensus,” he said. Key components might also see order cuts in the near future.
While some might blame Elon Musk’s chaotic leadership at Twitter for these rumored server cuts, the move makes sense in this economy. Tech companies are looking to cut costs right now. It’s not just Twitter. Firing employees and canceling orders for new infrastructure are ways to achieve that goal. However, most companies are a lot less dramatic about running their businesses.
We’ll also give you the usual disclaimer. Kuo is a well-connected professional who has been right about various moves in the tech industry. But his predictions aren’t always on the money. And the information he’s working with can be flawed. That’s to say Twitter’s server order cuts under Musk might not be as drastic as Kuo reported.
Whatever the case, Musk would need a miracle for Twitter to reach 1 billion users in 18 months, especially with Twitter looking to cut costs rather than expand rapidly. Twitter had 238 million monthly users in the second quarter of 2022, so Musk would have to more than quadruple that figure.
Maybe if Twitter Blue is successful, and if advertisers return to Twitter, the company will find the cash to expand its infrastructure and hire more employees to take it to that 1 billion monthly user mark.