Taiwan's industrial computer maker Advantech posted a huge jump in August sales, a strong sign that demand for edge computing and factory automation gear is booming.

• August revenue nearly doubled from a year earlier, and sales for the first eight months are up 46%.
• Growth came from everywhere, not one market — North America doubled, Taiwan nearly doubled, and Japan, Korea, China and Europe all grew sharply.
• The intelligent systems unit led the way, up 93%, with embedded computing close behind.
• August growth beat the company's own year-to-date pace across most major markets and business lines, suggesting demand is speeding up.
• Advantech is betting on edge AI, smart manufacturing, energy, healthcare and retail as its main growth markets.

Outlook: If the current pace holds, Advantech looks set for a record year as spending on AI hardware pushes further out of data centers and into factories and stores.