Foxconn just announced it's no longer just about assembling iPhones. The world's largest contract manufacturer revealed partnerships with OpenAI and Nvidia at its annual Tech Day in Taiwan, signaling a dramatic shift toward AI hardware manufacturing. The timing couldn't be more strategic - Foxconn's server business already became its biggest revenue driver this year, posting record profits as AI demand explodes.
Foxconn just made its biggest bet yet that the future of manufacturing isn't about smartphones - it's about artificial intelligence. At the company's annual Hon Hai Tech Day in Taiwan, the world's largest contract manufacturer unveiled a sweeping AI transformation that positions it as a critical player in the infrastructure powering today's AI boom.
The centerpiece announcement came via video from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who revealed a partnership that will have the ChatGPT maker sharing "insight into emerging hardware needs across the AI industry" with Foxconn. More significantly, Foxconn will use those insights to design and prototype new AI equipment manufactured right here in the United States.
"OpenAI needs strong partners, not only to manufacture products, but to quickly introduce all the products to the market," Kirk Yang, an adjunct finance professor at National Taiwan University, told CNBC. "Foxconn is probably the strongest partner that OpenAI can find."
The partnership centers on Foxconn's server business, which quietly became the company's largest revenue driver earlier this year. That shift helped deliver record profits in the September quarter, as enterprise customers scrambled to build AI infrastructure. While Apple iPhones still generate headlines for Foxconn, it's the unsexy server racks powering AI workloads that are driving the real growth.
But OpenAI wasn't the only major announcement. Foxconn also revealed a partnership with Intrinsic, Google's robotics unit under Alphabet, to build what they're calling "artificial intelligence factories." The collaboration signals Foxconn's ambition to apply AI not just in the products it makes, but in how it manufactures them.
The company's relationship with Nvidia is deepening too. Foxconn showcased its compute trays designed specifically for Nvidia's cutting-edge Blackwell chips, with Alexis Bjorlin, VP and general manager of Nvidia's DGX Cloud unit, promising the partnership would "deploy advanced AI infrastructure much faster to meet customer demand."
