Entrance to the Foxconn construction site in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, May 2019.
Katie Tarasoff | CNBC
Foxconn unveiled its artificial intelligence efforts Friday at its annual Hong Hai Tech Day in Taiwan, highlighting efforts by the world’s largest contract manufacturer to evolve beyond its role as Apple’s largest iPhone assembler.
The company is officially known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.The event was held on the same day that it announced a partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which is also a major player in the AI hardware space.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a video statement distributed at the event that the two companies will “share insights on emerging hardware needs across the AI industry.”
He added that Foxconn will use these insights to design and prototype new equipment that can be manufactured in the United States.
The partnership centers around Foxconn’s server business, which became the company’s biggest source of revenue earlier this year and helped drive record profits in the September quarter.
Kirk Yang, an adjunct professor of finance at National Taiwan University, described Foxconn and OpenAI as “natural partners” and told CNBC, “OpenAI needs a strong partner to not only manufacture the products, but also bring all the products to market quickly.”
“So I think it makes perfect sense for OpenAI to work with Foxconn. And Foxconn is probably the strongest partner OpenAI could find,” he added.
Foxconn also announced a partnership with Intrinsic. alphabet This is to build a so-called “artificial intelligence factory.”
Taiwanese manufacturer highlighted deeper commitment with Nvidia Similarly, the chip designer also showcased a computing tray for its cutting-edge Blackwell chips.
Speaking at Friday’s event, Alexis Bjorlin, vice president and general manager of Nvidia’s DGX cloud division, said partners will work even faster to deploy advanced AI infrastructure to meet customer demand.
Orders for AI hardware have surged this year, and Nvidia on Wednesday beat expectations for the third quarter and gave a strong outlook for the current quarter.
Despite Nvidia’s results showing demand for AI hardware remains strong, market concerns remain about a potential AI bubble and the sustainability of heavy AI spending.
In an interview with CNBC’s Emily Cheung on the sidelines of Honghai Tech Day, Foxconn Chairman Young Liu expressed confidence that the company will be protected from a potential AI bubble.
He said, “Regardless of which (AI) model or player of (AI) model wins, they all need hardware, and regardless of which GPU player wins, they all need suppliers of systems and components to support them.”
— CNBC’s Emily Cheung contributed to this report
