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Apple’s biggest manufacturing partner, Foxconn, ended 2024 with its best sales ever thanks to growing demand for computers that power artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
The Taiwan-based company reported NT$2.13 trillion ($64.72 billion) in sales for the last three months of 2024, exceeding the NT$2.1 trillion forecast by LSEG SmartEstimate. Its iPhone assembly business remained nearly the same as last year. However, Foxconn’s AI server division saw big gains as more companies needed powerful computers to run AI programs.
Chairman Young Liu told a meeting on Friday that he expects the company’s revenue to exceed NT$7 trillion (about $213 billion) this year. The company’s December sales alone jumped 42% compared to the previous year.
Market experts say this growth shows how Foxconn successfully moves beyond just making phones. “Foxconn has more growth ahead,” said Manoj Sukumaran, an analyst at research firm Omdia, last December. He points to its new partnership with Nvidia, a leading AI chip maker, as a sign of future opportunities. “They will become the largest supplier of NVL36 and NVL72 racks to cloud service providers,” he added.
The value of AI servers is expected to grow significantly this year. Research firm TrendForce predicts that by 2025, AI computers will account for more than 70% of all server sales, reaching $298 billion.
While Foxconn expects a seasonal slowdown in early 2025, the company says it’s still on track for strong growth compared to last year. Its success with AI servers helped its stock price rise 76% in 2024, much higher than the overall Taiwan market’s 28.5% gain.
“In the first quarter of 2025, overall operations have gradually entered the traditional off-season,” Foxconn said. “Even with record high revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024, the sequential performance of the first quarter will reach roughly similar levels that are average to the past five years; compared with a year ago, it should show significant growth.”
The shift toward AI servers represents a major change for Foxconn, which is best known for assembling iPhones and other consumer electronics. As companies invest more in this technology, Foxconn is positioning itself as a key supplier of the powerful computers needed to make AI work.
