Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said it is building a large artificial intelligence (AI) manufacturing facility in Mexico to produce servers based on Nvidia Corp’s GB200 chips.
The company would utilize as much capacity as possible to match strong market demand for AI servers, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said at “Hon Hai Tech Day” at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.
Last week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) told Bloomberg News that demand for the company’s new Blackwell chips has been “insane.”
Photo: CNA
GB200 is the first Blackwell chip.
“We are building a massive factory in Mexico. That is a very special factory with tremendous capacity,” Liu said. “Jensen’s perspective about supply/demand will determine our capacity utilization plan.”
The plant in Guadalajara would be the world’s largest manufacturing facility for GB200 servers, Hon Hai said.
Photo: CNA
The company uses Nvidia’s AI tool, Omniverse, to build models and simulate performance to obtain accurate results before the servers’ physical deployment, it said.
Hon Hai, which produces 40 percent of the world’s servers, would “be the first” to ship GB200 AI servers, given its robust integrated manufacturing capabilities, Liu said.
Up to 90 percent of the key components used to build GB200 servers are made by Hon Hai, excluding semiconductors such as central processing units and graphic processing units, he said.
A majority of server components used in liquid cooling systems, advanced switches, boards and racks are made within the group, he added.
The company’s strong integrated manufacturing capabilities enable Hon Hai to secure close partnerships with Nvidia in developing next-generation AI chips, Liu said, responding to a reporter’s question about whether the Taiwanese firm would produce new servers equipped with Nvidia’s next-generation GB300 chips next year.
Hon Hai also talked about “sovereignty servers,” a term originated from “sovereignty AI,” to address national security and data protection concerns.
To cope with demand for secure systems, AI servers would be made domestically or in an adjacent region for the nation that orders such products, Liu said.
Hon Hai, the world’s largest electronics manufacturing services provider, operates more than 200 manufacturing sites across 24 countries.
At the tech event, Hon Hai unveiled two new electric vehicles — the multipurpose vehicle Model D and minivan Model U.
The company also demonstrated a new concept car, the Model A, which is smaller than the Model D and designed as an “affordable” electric vehicle for the mass market, it said.
Hon Hai also showcased a new version of its Model C passenger vehicle for North American customers, which would enter volume production by the end of next year at the company’s factory in Ohio.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training