Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that revenue would grow significantly this quarter, thanks to seasonal demand for smartphones and robust growth momentum of artificial intelligence (AI) servers.
The company also expects revenue this year to be higher than NT$6.16 trillion (US$190.69 billion) last year, attributing the growth to robust demand for AI servers and electronic components, while smartphone revenue would be flat this year from last year.
Hon Hai’s remarks came as the major iPhone assembler posted the best second-quarter revenue and net profit in the company’s history, with revenue rising 19 percent year-on-year to NT$1.55 trillion and net profit growing 6 percent to NT$35.05 billion.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
AI server revenue surged about three-fold annually due to demand for servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s H100 graphics processing units, the company said.
“Because of stronger AI server performance during the second quarter, the company’s revenue beat its expectations,” Hon Hai spokesman James Wu (巫俊毅) told a virtual investors’ conference.
“With the high season approaching, we expect the company’s operations to improve gradually this quarter,” Wu said. “We are expecting significant growth in the third quarter, both quarterly and annually.”
For the full year, Hon Hai is seeing better order visibility than what it saw in May, he said.
Nvidia reportedly plans to postpone delivery of its GB200 chips from the fourth quarter of this year to the first quarter of next year due to design flaws.
However, Hon Hai would stick to its original schedule and ship the first AI server racks powered by Nvidia’s GB200 chips next quarter, Wu said.
“We will definitely be the first company shipping such servers. Based on current visibility, we will start small volume shipments of GB200-enabled racks in the fourth quarter. We will ramp up shipments in the first quarter next year,” he said.
Hon Hai yesterday retained its goal of boosting AI server revenue contribution this year to more than 40 percent of its overall server revenue, due to customers’ interest in next-generation AI server racks and higher order visibility of AI servers equipped with H100 chips, Wu said.
The company’s earnings per share last quarter were NT$2.53, up from NT$1.59 a quarter earlier and NT$2.38 a year earlier.
Gross margin last quarter improved to 6.42 percent from 6.32 percent in the first quarter and 6.41 percent a year earlier, due to a better product portfolio, Hon Hai said.
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