Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that clients have already booked 70 to 80 percent of the computing power at its artificial intelligence (AI) data center in Kaohsiung.
Hon Hai in May announced a partnership with Nvidia Corp to build the data center in the city’s Asia New Bay Area (亞洲新灣區).
Hon Hai said it would purchase 10,000 GB300 chips based on Nvidia’s Blackwell Ultra architecture to provide up to 27MW of computing power in the center’s first phase of development, positioning it as a local AI inference hub.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
Four clients have booked computing power at the data center, Hon Hai spokesman James Wu (巫俊毅) said on the sidelines of a news conference in Taipei, without naming the clients.
The center is to begin operations in the first half of next year, with a second phase of development being planned, Hon Hai said.
The company has intensified its efforts in AI development in the past few years to diversify its product portfolio. Last month, the company’s board of directors approved a NT$42 billion (US$1.345 billion) investment plan to purchase AI equipment for the data center.
Hon Hai plans to grow its AI deployment vertically and horizontally, Wu said.
As the AI industry is focused not only on hardware, but also on ecosystems and strategic alliances, Hon Hai — which has a large share of the AI server market — can extend its supply chain upstream to provide key components or downstream to build data centers, forming a “vertically integrated hardware supply chain,” he said.
In addition, the company plans to “expand horizontally” in the AI market through its three major application platforms, the self-developed large language model FoxBrain and the data center, he added.
The company said it would hold its annual Hon Hai Technology Day on Friday — larger than previous years — for the sixth time.
More than 2,000 people are expected to attend Friday’s invitation-only event, while more than 7,000 are expected to show up on Saturday when it opens to the public, it said.
The themes of this year’s event range from AI applications in smart manufacturing, smart electric vehicles and smart cities to vertical integration techniques for AI server racks, Wu said.
The company plans to showcase smart manufacturing automation integrating robotics and precision machining, as well as a range of advanced technologies, including quantum technology, aerospace applications and humanoid robots, he said.
Hon Hai is also to announce details of its cooperation with OpenAI and unveil its new Model A electric car at the event, he added.
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