Taiwan’s Hon Hai Know-how Group, broadly often known as Foxconn, and America’s Nvidia plan to hitch technological forces “to speed up the AI industrial revolution.”
Foxconn, the world’s largest contract producer, is the first assembler of the Apple iPhone. California-based Nvidia is the world’s main designer of the graphics processing models (GPUs) utilized in synthetic intelligence purposes.
Foxconn intends to make use of Nvidia know-how to additional the digitalization of producing and inspection workflows, the event of AI-enhanced electrical autos and robotics, and language-based generative AI companies.
Each tech giants are in pursuit of latest progress alternatives as Foxconn diversifies away from its conventional heavy dependence on Apple and Nvidia seeks new markets amid US authorities sanctions which have crippled its once-booming enterprise in China.
Nevertheless, Nvidia mentioned this month it has developed three new sanctions-compliant AI chips, primarily based on its flagship H100 product, for China’s markets.
Foxconn chairman and CEO Younger Liu and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed their collaborative revolutionary plans on October 18 on the Hon Hai Tech Day occasion held in Taipei.
They reportedly plan to construct factories supported by Nvidia GPU-based computing infrastructure designed to course of, refine and rework giant quantities of knowledge into AI fashions that may determine patterns and make predictions. These new knowledge facilities shall be primarily based on Nvidia GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips and AI enterprise software program.
The GH200 Grace Hopper system-on-chip (SoC) combines Nvidia’s Grace central processing unit (CPU) and Hopper GPU architectures with high-bandwidth reminiscence to allow large-scale AI coaching, inference and high-performance computing.
Launched in August 2023, the GH200 was created to deal with probably the most advanced generative AI workloads together with giant language fashions, recommender methods (AI algorithms related to machine studying) and vector databases (knowledge saved as mathematical representations to facilitate machine studying).
Huang famous that “A brand new kind of producing has emerged… Foxconn, the world’s largest producer, has the experience and scale to construct AI factories globally.”
Foxconn may also use Nvidia know-how in different industrial and infrastructure options, the arguably most spectacular of which is Foxconn’s Sensible EV. Constructed on the Nvidia Drive Hyperion 9 platform for autonomous autos, will probably be powered by Thor SoC pc, which permits automated and assisted driving, parking, driver and passenger monitoring, digital devices and in-vehicle data and leisure methods.
Scheduled to be launched in 2027, Hyperion 9 will help degree 3 conditional city passenger automotive driving, characterised as hands-off, eyes-off however able to resume management, and degree 4 superior freeway driving, characterised as “brain-off”, no want to concentrate.
Foxconn has been engaged on EVs for a number of years. It has solely a small presence within the trade at the moment however has formidable designs. By 2027, it goals for 10% of the worldwide marketplace for EV elements and companies. It has a check satellite tv for pc in low Earth orbit and plans to combine satellite tv for pc communications with the Web of Autos (IoV) within the not-too-distant future.
Foxconn Sensible Manufacturing robotic methods shall be constructed on the Nvidia Isaac autonomous cell robotic platform, which runs the gamut from coaching, simulation and constructing of autonomous robots to robotic fleet administration.
Foxconn Sensible Metropolis will incorporate Nvidia Metropolis video analytics, that are designed to “make sense of the flood of knowledge created by trillions of sensors” in visitors administration, retail logistics, healthcare and different city companies.
The timing is seemingly proper. Nvidia factors out that “Advances in edge AI and simulation are enabling deployment of autonomous cell robots that may journey a number of miles a day and industrial robots for assembling elements, making use of coatings, packaging and performing high quality inspections.”
These robots are arriving simply as demographic change creates a power scarcity of staff in China and different superior industrial nations.
Foxconn is already the most important producer of Nvidia-based AI {hardware}, in line with market analysis and electronics trade media sources. Along with promoting {hardware} to and constructing methods primarily based on Nvidia know-how for its clients, Foxconn plans to make use of the know-how in its personal factories to enhance effectivity whereas saving money and time.
Outdoors Taiwan, Foxconn has manufacturing, design and R&D services in additional than 20 nations and areas together with China, India, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, the US, Mexico and Brazil. This, together with greater than 40% of the worldwide marketplace for electronics manufacturing companies, provides it a attain that its opponents will discover troublesome to match.
Foxconn Industrial Web, a bunch subsidiary headquartered in Shenzhen, China, serves markets for smartphones and sensible wearable gadgets, sensible houses, cloud and edge computing, 5G and different community communication gadgets, EV and different new vitality automobile elements, and the economic web. Established in 2015, Foxconn Industrial Web has about 200,000 staff, nearly as many as China tech large Huawei.
Not like Huawei, which is below US tech war-related sanctions, Foxconn is welcome in all the world’s main markets. It has a manufacturing unit within the US state of Wisconsin and runs one of many largest foreign-owned factories producing for export, often known as maquiladoras, in Mexico.
In August 2023, Foxconn and the Chihuahua state authorities in Mexico introduced a partnership aimed toward growing the state’s industrial capabilities by coaching staff for the knowledge & communications and auto industries, optimizing provide chains, enhancing infrastructure, elevating vitality effectivity and furthering the event of renewable vitality.
Foxconn has thus far invested greater than US$500 million in Chihuahua, which borders the US states of New Mexico and Texas. It has manufacturing services there, in Ciudad Juarez and in addition in Tijuana, south of San Diego.
Foxconn’s manufacturing unit in Wisconsin, promoted closely by former president Donald Trump, has been scaled again and is usually considered having been a politically motivated funding aimed toward evading tariffs. Beneath the US-Mexico-Canada Settlement, previously often known as NAFTA, that may be executed rather more economically from Mexico.
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