Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted a 25 percent rise in revenue during the first two months of this year, quickening from last year in a reflection of expanding demand for artificial intelligence (AI) computing.
The main supplier of Nvidia Corp AI servers and Apple Inc iPhones, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), reported sales of NT$1.1 trillion (US$33.5 billion) for the two months. That’s an acceleration from the 11 percent growth pace it clocked last year. Analysts on average project a revenue increase of 22 percent to NT$1.6 trillion for the first quarter.
The quickening follows Nvidia’s disclosure last week of US$11 billion in quarterly revenue from its most advanced Blackwell chip, which it called “the fastest product ramp” in the company’s history. Those results helped ease concerns about delays in Blackwell-based AI servers.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
Hon Hai, which ships electronics to the rest of the world from giant production bases in China, is grappling with uncertainty surrounding US President Donald Trump administration tariffs and the sustainability of the AI boom. While big tech firms from Microsoft Corp to Amazon.com Inc have pledged to keep spending to keep pace with a revolutionary technology, Chinese start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) rise has spurred doubts about whether all that infrastructure expenditure is justified.
As Nvidia’s most important server maker, Hon Hai’s performance is a bellwether for the AI infrastructure build-out. Hon Hai expects strong year-on-year growth for the first quarter, it said in its monthly sales statement.
Hon Hai has been expanding its investments in the US to make more AI servers there. Last week Apple said it will partner with Foxconn to begin producing servers that power Apple Intelligence in Houston later this year.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
GREAT SUCCESS: Republican Senator Todd Young expressed surprise at Trump’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running US lawmakers who helped secure billions of dollars in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to revoke the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, signaling that any repeal effort in the US Congress would fall short. US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the law, on Wednesday said that Trump’s demand would fail, while a top Republican proponent, US Senator Todd Young, expressed surprise at the president’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running. The CHIPS Act is “essential for America leading the world in tech, leading the world in AI [artificial
REACTIONS: While most analysts were positive about TSMC’s investment, one said the US expansion could disrupt the company’s supply-demand balance Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) new US$100 billion investment in the US would exert a positive effect on the chipmaker’s revenue in the medium term on the back of booming artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from US chip designers, an International Data Corp (IDC) analyst said yesterday. “This is good for TSMC in terms of business expansion, as its major clients for advanced chips are US chip designers,” IDC senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠瑋) said by telephone yesterday. “Besides, those US companies all consider supply chain resilience a business imperative,” Zeng said. That meant local supply would