Foxconn unveiled its ambitions in the realm of artificial intelligence during its annual ‘Hon Hai Tech Day’ in Taiwan on Friday. This move highlights the company’s strategic shift as it seeks to expand its identity beyond merely being the largest assembler of Apple’s iPhones.

Known formally as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Foxconn has significantly advanced into the AI hardware sector. Coinciding with its tech event, the company announced a collaboration with OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT.

In a video message at the event, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed that the partnership aims to exchange insights on the evolving hardware demands within the AI industry.

Altman further noted that Foxconn plans to leverage this knowledge to design and prototype innovative equipment, potentially manufacturing these new technologies 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.

Foxconn also announced a partnership with Intrinsic, a unit of Alphabet to build so-called “artificial intelligence factories.” 

The Taiwanese manufacturer highlighted deeper work with Nvidia as well, showcasing its compute trays for the chip designer’s cutting-edge Blackwell chips.

Speaking at the Friday event, Alexis Bjorlin, vice president and general manager of Nvidia’s DGX Cloud unit, said the partners would work on deploying advanced AI infrastructure much faster to meet customer demand.

AI hardware orders have surged this year, with Nvidia beating third-quarter expectations on Wednesday and providing a strong forecast for the current quarter.

Despite Nvidia’s results showing that demand for AI hardware remains strong, concerns persist in the market about a potential AI bubble and the sustainability of heavy AI spending. 

Speaking to CNBC’s Emily Chan on the sidelines of Hon Hai Tech Day, Foxconn Chairman Young Liu expressed confidence that the company would be protected from a potential AI bubble.

“No matter what [AI] models or [AI] model players will win, they all need hardware, and no matter what GPU player will win, they all need system and component suppliers to support them,” he said.

— CNBC’s Emily Chan contributed to this report