(Aug 12): Hon Hai Precision Industry Co reported a better-than-expected increase in quarterly profit, signalling robust global demand for AI hardware.
Net income for the three months ended in June grew 35% to NT$60 billion (RM7.62 billion), versus the average analyst projection of NT$58.4 billion. The company previously reported a 40% rise in quarterly sales. Revenue in July jumped 54.2% to NT$946.5 billion. Analysts on average are looking for a 32% increase in sales in the current quarter.
“The unprecedented investments in global cloud infrastructure will become the most critical growth driver for Hon Hai over the next few years,” rotating CEO Michael Chiang told analysts on a post-earnings call on Wednesday. Hon Hai expects its AI business to grow further in 2027, he said.
Chiang said that the company is on track to start mass production of Nvidia’s highly-anticipated, next-generation Vera Rubin platform in the current quarter and start shipping in the fourth quarter. His comments echoed Nvidia boss Jensen Huang’s statements refuting speculation of a possible delay in the US company’s product release.
The Taiwanese company’s performance has become a key gauge for global AI demand thanks to its role as a major server production partner for Nvidia Corp, whose chips have become the gold standard for the vast majority of data centres.
Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, is further benefiting from Apple Inc’s sustained growth in the smartphone market. The Taiwanese company remains the primary iPhone manufacturer with handset assembly facilities in both China and India.
Hon Hai has said that shipments of AI racks are expected to maintain their momentum in the current quarter while demand for information and communications technology products is entering peak season.
During Wednesday’s call, Chiang said that Hon Hai will add research and development and production capacity in California, Texas, Wisconsin and Ohio to help meet demand for localised supplies from major US customers.
Alphabet Inc, Meta Platforms Inc, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc — the four largest players in the data centre race — have pledged nearly US$2.4 trillion (RM9.81 trillion) in AI-related spending over the coming years. That’s as questions about how to monetise the technology persist alongside warnings about overcapacity and growing corporate debt.
Such fears fuelled a tech stock rout in July. This week, strong earnings and bullish forecasts from server maker Super Micro Computer Inc and AI computing resource provider CoreWeave Inc have helped ease some of the concerns.
Uploaded by Arion Yeow