Foxconn in talks with OpenAI on data centers partnership: chairman

Hon Hai Precision Industry, known internationally as Foxconn, is in talks with OpenAI about potential cooperation on data center development, according to chairman Young Liu.

Details are expected to be revealed at Hon Hai Tech Day on November 21, 2025.

Liu also said at an investor conference that the company has been working with North American cloud service providers and Nvidia to build a high-speed supercomputer, making it the first Nvidia cloud partner in Taiwan.

Liu noted that demand for AI servers has boosted the company’s cloud and networking division, and that Hon Hai completed the acquisition of Sharp Fukuyama Laser to strengthen its semiconductor operations.

🔗 Source: Focus Taiwan

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Foxconn’s OpenAI data center talks must navigate Microsoft and OpenAI agreement terms

Talks between Foxconn and OpenAI will sit inside the Microsoft and OpenAI deal 1. Microsoft keeps access to OpenAI IP and exclusive use of OpenAI APIs through 2030, and OpenAI committed new spend to Azure (Microsoft’s cloud) 1.
Microsoft holds a right of first refusal on new OpenAI cloud capacity (the first chance to provide capacity) 1, so any Foxconn and OpenAI site would sit alongside Microsoft infrastructure.
OpenAI moved to a multi-cloud strategy (using more than one cloud provider) in January 2025 through the Stargate deal with SoftBank (a Japanese investment and telecom group) and Oracle (a cloud and enterprise software company) 1. The plan is a large-scale compute build-out, which spreads work beyond Microsoft and could leave room for Foxconn to host non-Azure workloads if talks turn into projects.

Taiwan’s AI infrastructure boom creates openings for power and energy suppliers

Foxconn posted a 300% quarter over quarter jump in AI server rack shipments 2. It plans up to $1.4 billion in AI data center gear by December 2026 2, while Microsoft expects the Taiwan Azure region (a local cluster for Microsoft cloud services) to have three to four data centers 3.
Power equipment vendors plus Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractors see new work from Taiwan’s plan for AI infrastructure starting in 2026 4. The government set aside hundreds of billions of New Taiwan dollars, which will need utility upgrades for megawatt-scale data centers.
Local suppliers are gearing for high-density AI loads. Delta Electronics (a Taiwan-based power and thermal management firm) launched an AI Data Center Microgrid Solution with 98.5% efficient solid-state transformers (advanced power-conversion equipment) 5. That move signals demand for better power and grid resilience systems.