Michelle ThompsonThe most valuable semiconductor company globally, Nvidia, and the producer of iPhones, Foxconn, are partnering to establish what are referred to as “artificial intelligence (AI) manufacturing plants.”
Nvidia, the world’s most valuable chip manufacturer, and Foxconn, the company behind iPhones, have formed a partnership to create what they call “AI factories.” These facilities will utilize Nvidia’s chips to power a diverse range of applications, such as training autonomous vehicles, robotics systems, and large language models.
This collaboration comes at a time when the United States is implementing plans to restrict advanced chip exports to China, which could affect Nvidia. The latest export restrictions will prohibit the sale of two high-end artificial intelligence chips, the A800 and H800, designed by Nvidia for the Chinese market.
Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, who hails from Taiwan, and Foxconn’s chairman, Young Liu, made this announcement during Foxconn’s annual tech showcase in Taipei. Huang emphasized the emergence of a new form of manufacturing, the “production of intelligence,” and described the data centers as “AI factories.” He stated that Foxconn possesses the expertise and global reach to construct these facilities.
Young Liu shared Foxconn’s ambition to transform itself from a manufacturing service company into a platform solutions provider, highlighting applications like smart cities and smart manufacturing for these AI factories.
Nvidia’s stock market value has surpassed $1 trillion due to the use of its advanced chips in AI applications, with the company’s shares tripling in value this year. This achievement has made Nvidia the fifth publicly traded US company to join the “Trillion dollar club,” alongside Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon.
Foxconn, known for manufacturing over half of Apple’s products, is diversifying its business and targeting growth in the electric vehicle (EV) sector in the coming decades. In January, Foxconn and Nvidia announced a partnership to develop autonomous vehicle platforms, with Foxconn focusing on manufacturing electronic control units based on Nvidia’s chips.
