Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, posted its highest-ever first-quarter revenue on strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products, but said it would need to closely watch global politics.
Revenue for Apple Inc’s biggest iPhone assembler jumped 24.2 percent year-on-year to NT$1.64 trillion (US$49.5 billion), Hon Hai said in a statement on Saturday, just missing the NT$1.68 trillion LSEG SmartEstimate, which gives greater weight to forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.
Robust AI demand led to strong revenue growth for Hon Hai’s cloud and networking products division, said the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), whose customers include AI chip firm Nvidia Corp.
Photo: Lee Wen-Yee, Reuters
For smart consumer electronics, which includes iPhones, there was “flattish” year-on-year growth, Hon Hai said.
The company said it anticipates growth this quarter from the previous three months and from the same period last year.
However, “the impact of evolving global political and economic conditions will need continued close monitoring,” it said, without elaborating.
US President Donald Trump last week slapped additional 34 percent tariffs on Chinese goods, bringing the total new levies this year to 54 percent on the country. The Chinese city of Zhengzhou is home to the world’s largest iPhone manufacturing facility, operated by Hon Hai.
Trump also put a 32 percent tariff on Taiwan, although the bulk of Hon Hai’s factories are overseas.
The US’s reciprocal tariffs on regions such as Taiwan, Vietnam and India — key beneficiaries of the “China Plus One” strategy — could place mounting pressure on electronics manufacturing services firms such as Hon Hai and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), potentially impeding both margins and demand, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts said in a note.
Hon Hai does not provide numerical forecasts. The company would report its full first-quarter earnings on May 14.
Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) last month said the company was exploring ways to expand production in several US states. Earlier this year, Apple said it was partnering with Hon Hai to begin making servers in Houston. Other Taiwanese electronics manufacturers are also following suit.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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