Nvidia Partner Hon Hai boosts capacity to meet ‘crazy’ AI demand

Date:

(Bloomberg) — Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (2317.TW, HNHPF) plans to boost server capacity to meet stronger-than-anticipated demand for Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) chips used to develop AI, reflecting its expectations that spending on artificial intelligence will stay high.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Chairman Young Liu told Bloomberg Television that demand for the next-generation Blackwell chips was “crazy,” echoing similar remarks from Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang last week.

Foxconn Chairman Young Liu delivers a speech during the Hon Hai Tech Day (HHTD 24) at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 as Foxconn showcases its latest electric car and other technology products. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

Young Liu, chairman of Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, delivers a speech at the company’s tech day in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The Taiwanese company is now building the world’s largest assembly plant for servers housing Nvidia’s most advanced Grace Blackwell chips in Mexico. Hon Hai will have a planned capacity of 20,000 GB200 NVL 72 servers in 2025, according to Liu, disclosing its scale for the first time.

“There was a lot of talk that the need for compute may be saturated pretty soon. But it looks like the demand is still growing. So that’s beyond our expectations,” Liu said.

However, Liu said there was a “hiccup” in the production of GB200 servers, confirming again a delay with Blackwell supply. Shipments are now expected to start in the late fourth quarter instead of early in the October-December period, he said.

Still, Nvidia’s Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said in August that the company expects to ship several billion dollars worth of Blackwell chips in its fiscal fourth quarter.

—With assistance from Lauren Faith Lau.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Share post:

Popular

More like this
Related