Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is partnering with US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp to develop humanoid robots, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on the sidelines of the Kaohsiung Smart City meeting on Friday.
The company is adopting Nvidia’s software technologies and hardware platforms to develop human-like robots and has set its sights on Kaohsiung to launch humanoid robot services, Liu said.
Hon Hai has already introduced non-humanoid robots as part of its production lines, using Nvidia’s technologies.
Photo: CNA
Local media cited Liu as saying the company is planning to introduce humanoid robots to other services, including the healthcare industry.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) has said that robots would become the next wave of AI development, predicting that upcoming innovations would be dominated by humanoid robots and self-driving cars.
While Hon Hai is working with Kaohsiung in smart city development, Liu said the company is also planning to cooperate with Taipei and Keelung governments in this field.
Hon Hai would integrate resources to allow software developers to gain access to its efforts in smart city development to establish an environment of sovereign AI, which refers to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks, Liu said.
Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), is expected to see consolidated sales top NT$7 trillion (US$212.7 billion) this year on the back of strong global demand for AI applications, Liu said.
Hon Hai yesterday reported record consolidated sales of NT$6.86 trillion for last year, up 11.37 percent from a year earlier, and more than the NT$6.16 trillion in revenue posted for 2023 as a whole.
It came as the company reported better-than-expected sales growth in the final quarter of last year as the AI infrastructure buildout continued apace.
The company's sales over the past three months were NT$2.13 trillion, up 15.17 percent year-on-year, exceeding analyst expectations for a 13 percent rise.
Last month's sales rose 42.31 percent to NT$654.83 billion, also beating analysts' estimates, which the company attributed to a small shipment of GB200 servers powered by Nvidia's advanced Blackwell graphics processing units.
Hon Hai said in a statement that it expects mass production of AI servers to begin later this month and projects significant sales growth for the first quarter of this year.
Due to robust global demand, AI servers are forecast to make up 50 percent of Hon Hai’s server sales this year, and shipments of AI servers are likely to grow from quarter to quarter to become the most important driver of the company’s sales growth, it said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
RSS