OpenAI just inked a manufacturing deal with Taiwan's Foxconn, the electronics giant behind Apple's iPhones, to build AI data center components on U.S. soil. The partnership marks OpenAI's latest move to secure domestic supply chains as the company burns through $1.4 trillion in infrastructure commitments while chasing ambitious revenue targets.
OpenAI is betting big on American manufacturing. The ChatGPT maker just struck a partnership with Taiwan's Foxconn to design and build AI data center components across the U.S., adding a crucial manufacturing layer to its massive infrastructure buildout.
The deal gives OpenAI early access to evaluate Foxconn's systems plus purchase options, though neither company disclosed financial terms. What's clear is the strategic intent - accelerate infrastructure deployment while securing long-term domestic capacity as AI demand explodes.
Under the agreement, the companies will co-develop multiple generations of AI servers simultaneously, manufacturing everything from power systems to networking and cooling components at Foxconn's existing U.S. facilities in Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Indiana.
"This partnership is a step toward ensuring the core technologies of the AI era are built here," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, calling AI infrastructure a "generational opportunity to reindustrialize America."
The timing isn't coincidental. OpenAI has been on an unprecedented dealmaking spree, announcing roughly $1.4 trillion in spending commitments that have investors questioning whether the startup can generate enough profit to justify the massive outlays. Altman promised earlier this month that the company will hit $20 billion in annualized revenue by year-end and hundreds of billions by 2030.
But those revenue projections depend heavily on infrastructure execution. OpenAI has already lined up a $100 billion investment commitment from Nvidia - though that deal remains unfinalized - plus cloud partnerships with Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, and compute buildout agreements with Oracle.
