Taiwanese Technological Giant Foxconn Partners with NVIDIA to Create “Artificial Intelligence Factories” for Electric Cars
Taiwanese technological giant Foxconn and the American company NVIDIA have announced a partnership to create “artificial intelligence factories” – powerful data centers that will serve as a new generation production engine, including for electric cars.
Foxconn, officially known as Hon Hai Technology Group, is the world’s largest electronics manufacturer and plays a key role in assembling devices for leading world brands, such as the Apple iPhone.
However, the company has ambitions beyond just electronics assembly and aims to compete in the rapidly growing electric car industry. It introduced concepts for electric vehicles at the Hon Hai Tech Day.
This year, at the Hon Hai Tech Day, Chairman Young Liu, together with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Juang, presented the “new class of data centers that support a wide range of applications.” Liu announced on stage with Juang, “Together, we will help propel the entire industry into a new era of artificial intelligence.”
NVIDIA has made a name for itself in the development of graphic processors (GPU) – powerful microchip technology initially used for modern video games but now essential for the rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence.
According to a NVIDIA representative, the “factories” will incorporate several elements, including “digitizing production and control work processes, developing electric vehicles and robotics platforms based on artificial intelligence, as well as the increasing number of linguistic generative tools.” Juang stated that Foxconn “possesses the necessary experience and scale to construct AI factories worldwide.”
If successful, Foxconn’s customers will be able to utilize these systems for generative AI and use simulations to train autonomous machines like industrial robots and unmanned vehicles.
The announcement comes just a day after the United States tightened restrictions on exporting advanced microchips to China, which could impact NVIDIA as it supplies its chips to China, a major supplier database for many contract manufacturers, including Foxconn. Consequently, NVIDIA’s shares on Wall Street fell on Tuesday.