The entrance to a Foxconn construction site in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, in May 2019.
Foxconn showcased its push into artificial intelligence at its annual 'Hon Hai Tech Day' in Taiwan on Friday, underscoring the world's largest contract manufacturer's efforts to evolve beyond its role as the biggest assembler of Apple's iPhones.
The company, officially known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. , has also become a major player in the AI hardware space, with its event taking place the same day it announced a partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in a video statement streamed at the event, said that the two firms would "share insight into emerging hardware needs across the AI industry."
He added that Foxconn would use those insights to design and prototype new equipment that could be manufactured in the United States.
The partnership will center on Foxconn's server business, which earlier this year became its largest revenue driver and helped drive record profit in the September quarter.
Describing Foxconn and OpenAI as "natural partners," Kirk Yang, an adjunct finance professor at National Taiwan University, told CNBC, "OpenAI needs strong partners, not only to manufacture products, but to quickly introduce all the products to the market."
"So I think it makes perfect sense for OpenAI to work with Foxconn. And Foxconn is probably the strongest partner that open AI can find," he added.