Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s biggest server maker, on Thursday said that revenue this year would expand to more than NT$7 trillion (US$233.9 billion), driven by growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers.
Despite uncertainties from US tariffs, exchange rates, global monetary policies and geopolitics, Hon Hai remains optimistic that it would report “significant growth” this year, attributable to robust AI server demand, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting.
“That means [revenue] this year would exceed the NT$6.86 trillion [last year] and surpass NT$7 trillion,” Liu said.
Photo: Cheng I-hwa, AFP
Along with AI servers, stable demand for information and communications technology, and electric vehicles (EV) would also be growth drivers over the next three years, Liu said.
In response to a shareholder’s question about Hon Hai’s progress in securing new EV orders, Liu said the company expects to add a second customer in the near future and might have a third and fourth after forming a partnership with Mitsubishi Motors Corp.
Hon Hai plans to launch its new EV Model C series for the US market in the fourth quarter of this year, and a Model D in 2027, Liu said.
In response to a shareholder’s question about separating the roles of chairman and chief executive officer, Liu said the change would take place in the coming three years.
Hon Hai implemented a chief executive officer rotation system in April last year, with executives from various business units taking turns to assume the position.
These temporary chief executive officers are expected to become an official chief executive officer over time, he said.
The company last month announced that global chief campus operations officer Kathy Yang (楊秋瑾) would become the group’s next rotating chief executive officer, replacing Lin Chung-cheng (林忠正), president of Hon Hai’s e-business group.
Shareholders approved a cash dividend of NT$5.8 per share, the highest in the company’s history. That represents a payout ratio of 52.68 percent based on the company’s earnings per share of NT$11.01 last year.
Hon Hai also re-elected nine board members, including four candidates proposed as board members and five independent directors during the meeting.
Young was re-elected as chairman during a board meeting on Thursday.
Among the four board directors, Hon Hai semiconductor business strategist Chiang Shang-yi (蔣尚義) was tapped as a director for the first time. Chiang also doubles as chairman of ShunSin Technology Holdings Ltd (訊芯), a subsidiary of Hon Hai.
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