Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the largest contract electronics maker in the world, said on Monday that its board of directors has approved a NT$42 billion (US $1.371 billion) investment plan to purchase artificial intelligence (AI) equipment for a supercomputing center.
The company said in a regulatory filing that the self-financed investment will be made over a year, starting in December, with the goal of expanding its cloud computing services and accelerating the development of its three platforms — smart manufacturing, smart electric vehicles and smart cities.
Earlier this month, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said that the company was making plans for the next five years.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, AFP
"AI applications are just beginning" and will reach into all kinds of industries, Young said.
Also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), Hon Hai has been investing in AI infrastructure in recent years, as it seeks new growth drivers beyond smartphones and traditional electronics manufacturing.
In March, the company announced the launch of its first traditional Chinese version of an advanced AI large language model to improve the analysis efficiency of its smart platforms.
In May, Hon Hai said it was partnering with US-based AI chip designer Nvidia Corp to build an AI factory supercomputing center in Taiwan.
On Oct. 14, Hon Hai said it planned to introduce Nvidia’s 800 VDC data center power architecture in its K-1 AI data center in Kaohsiung, making it a model site for its server, data center and renewable energy integration.
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