NVIDIA announced that it is collaborating with Hon Hai
Technology Group (Foxconn) to accelerate the AI industrial revolution.
Foxconn will integrate NVIDIA technology to develop a new class of
data centers powering a wide range of applications - including
digitalization of manufacturing and inspection workflows, development of
AI-powered electric vehicle and robotics platforms, and a growing
number of language-based generative AI services.
Announced in a fireside chat with NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang
and Foxconn Chairman and CEO Young Liu at Hon Hai Tech Day, in Taipei,
the collaboration starts with the creation of AI factories - an NVIDIA®
GPU computing infrastructure specially built for processing, refining
and transforming vast amounts of data into valuable AI models and tokens
- based on the NVIDIA accelerated computing platform, including the
latest NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip and NVIDIA AI Enterprise
software.
Foxconn is also developing its smart solution platforms based on NVIDIA technologies:
- Foxconn Smart EV will be built on NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion 9, a next-generation platform for autonomous automotive fleets, powered by NVIDIA DRIVE Thor, its future automotive systems-on-a-chip.
- Foxconn Smart Manufacturing robotic systems will be built on the NVIDIA IsaacTM autonomous mobile robot platform.
- Foxconn Smart City will incorporate the NVIDIA Metropolis intelligent video analytics platform.
"Most importantly, NVIDIA and Foxconn are building these factories
together. We will be helping the whole industry move much faster into
the new AI era," said Foxconn Chairman and CEO Young Liu.
"A new type of manufacturing has emerged - the production of
intelligence. And the data centers that produce it are AI factories,"
said Huang. "Foxconn, the world's largest manufacturer, has the
expertise and scale to build AI factories globally. We are delighted to
expand our decade-long partnership with Foxconn to accelerate the AI
industrial revolution."
Enabling Foxconn Customers to Build AI Data Factories
Working closely with NVIDIA, Foxconn is expected to build a large number
of systems based on NVIDIA CPUs, GPUs and networking for its global
customer base, which is looking to create and operate their own AI
factories, optimized with NVIDIA AI Enterprise software.
Among the key NVIDIA technologies Foxconn is using to create these
custom designs are NVIDIA HGX reference designs featuring eight NVIDIA
H100 Tensor Core GPUs per system, NVIDIA GH200 Superchips, NVIDIA OVX
reference designs and NVIDIA networking.
With these systems, Foxconn customers can leverage NVIDIA accelerated
computing to deliver generative AI services as well as use simulation
to speed up the training of autonomous machines, including industrial
robots and self-driving cars.
Foxconn Eyes Potential AI Factory
In addition to equipping its customers with NVIDIA technology-powered AI
factories, Foxconn is eyeing its own that will tap into the NVIDIA
Omniverse platform and Isaac and Metropolis frameworks to meet the
strict production and quality standards of the electronics industry.
Advances in edge AI and simulation are enabling deployment of
autonomous mobile robots that can travel several miles a day and
industrial robots for assembling components, applying coatings,
packaging and performing quality inspections.
An AI factory with these NVIDIA platforms can give Foxconn the
ability to accomplish AI training and inference, enhance factory
workflows and run simulations in the virtual world before deployment in
the physical world. Simulating the entire robotics and automation
pipeline from end to end provides Foxconn with a path to operational
efficiency gains, saving time and costs.
Developing Safe, AI-Powered EVs
Foxconn will also deliver a range of NVIDIA DRIVE solutions to global
automakers, serving as a tier-one manufacturer of NVIDIA DRIVE
Orin-based electronic control units (ECUs) today and scaling to NVIDIA
DRIVE Thor-based ECUs in the future.
As a contract manufacturer, Foxconn will offer highly automated and
autonomous, AI-rich EVs featuring the upcoming NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion 9
platform, which includes DRIVE Thor and a state-of-the-art sensor
architecture. This will enable Foxconn and its automotive customers to
realize a new era of functionally safe and secure software-defined cars.