Some uncool people have a knack of turning up at all the coolest parties. In the world of tech, that applies to Foxconn. On Wednesday it became the latest business to feature as an AI lister, via its relationship with US artificial intelligence chip group Nvidia.
Foxconn is a theoretically prosaic contract manufacturer listed in Taiwan as Hon Hai Precision. It made a windfall working for Intel in the PC boom of the early 2000s. Then it became Apple’s key manufacturing partner. Now, with smartphone sales slowing, it is moving on to the next big thing.
Foxconn expects sales to at least double in the second half on surging demand for servers with AI capabilities. Sales from the division reached NT$1.1tn ($36bn) last year.