Nvidia and Foxconn, the manufacturer behind Apple’s iPhones, have teamed up to create “AI factories,” a novel type of data center.
These centers will rely on Nvidia chips to power a broad spectrum of applications, including training autonomous vehicles, running robotics platforms, and managing extensive language models.
This partnership comes in the wake of the US announcing new export restrictions on advanced chips to China, which impacts Nvidia.
These restrictions will prevent the sale of two high-end artificial intelligence (AI) chips, the A800 and H800, created by Nvidia for the Chinese market.
Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, and Foxconn’s chairman, Young Liu, announced their collaboration at Foxconn’s annual tech showcase in Taipei. Huang also highlighted that a new type of manufacturing has emerged, emphasizing the production of intelligence.
He described the data centers that produce this intelligence as “AI factories.” Huang expressed his belief that Foxconn’s expertise and global reach are well-suited to constructing these AI factories.
Young Liu echoed this sentiment, saying that Foxconn is working to shift from a manufacturing service firm to a platform solution company.
In addition to AI factories, Liu identified smart cities and smart manufacturing as potential applications for this transformation.
Nvidia’s role in AI applications has propelled its stock market value to over $1 trillion, with its shares more than tripling in value this year. As a result, Nvidia joined the exclusive “Trillion dollar club,” making it the fifth publicly traded U.S. company to reach this milestone, alongside Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon.
On the other hand, Foxconn is striving to diversify its business. It seeks to replicate its success in assembling personal computers and smartphones.
In a previous interview, Chairman Young Liu stated that electric vehicles (EVs) would be the driving force behind Foxconn’s growth in the coming decades.
Note that Foxconn and Nvidia initially announced their partnership in January, focusing on the development of autonomous vehicle platforms.
