Foxconn chairman says AI boom still has time to go as LLMs evolve | usagoldmines.com

The increase in company funding into synthetic intelligence infrastructure nonetheless has some solution to go as giant language fashions are persevering with to evolve, in response to the CEO of Foxconn, a key provider to Apple.

Talking with CNBC’s Emily Tan, Chief Govt and Chairman of Foxconn Younger Liu, mentioned that the AI increase “nonetheless has a while to go” as superior language fashions from the likes of OpenAI have gotten more and more clever with every new iteration that comes out.

He mentioned that the overall motion within the tech business in the present day is trending towards a type of AI that’s as clever — if no more clever — than people. This sort of AI is referred to within the business as “AGI,” or Synthetic Basic Intelligence.

“We … heard about AGI, and we’ll speak about totally different ranges of intelligence. In the event you divide [intelligence] into 4 totally different ranges, we’re at stage two. There’s nonetheless stage three and stage 4 to go,” Liu advised CNBC in an interview that aired Tuesday.

OpenAI is without doubt one of the main corporations pushing for AGI. Sam Altman, CEO of the Microsoft-backed startup, has beforehand mentioned AGI can be developed within the “moderately close-ish future,” nonetheless he is additionally mentioned he thinks it would “change jobs a lot lower than all of us suppose.”

The corporate, which released its upgraded GPT-4o model this summer time, revealed final week that it had raised $6.6 billion at a $157 billion valuation. OpenAI remains to be working towards releasing its next-generation LLM, GPT-5, nonetheless it is but to share timing on when the brand new language mannequin will launch.

Liu mentioned that progress towards more and more clever AI can solely be an excellent factor for the AI server business, which has been a key boon to Foxconn’s progress this yr.

“I believe for the AI server business, I believe we nonetheless have a while to develop,” Liu added. “With the AGI functionality rising, the age [of] AI gadgets can be one other business we should always watch fastidiously.”

Foxconn, which trades as Hon Hai domestically in China and Taiwan, is the world’s largest contract producer for the electronics business. The agency produces and assembles Apple merchandise, together with about two out of each three iPhones.

On Saturday, Foxconn said that it reported better-than-expected sales figures. The agency mentioned its revenues got here in at 1.85 trillion Taiwanese {dollars} ($57.5 billion) within the September quarter, up 20.2% year-over-year. That “exceeded the corporate’s unique expectations of great progress,” in response to Foxconn.

The robust efficiency got here off the again of heightened demand for AI servers, which Foxconn manufactures for a number of main international tech giants, together with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Nvidia.

The corporate is presently on monitor to ship Nvidia’s next-generation Blackwell GPU (graphics processing unit), a complicated AI server chip, within the fourth quarter of 2024, Liu advised CNBC. Blackwell can also be identified underneath the model identify GB200.

Requested concerning the order e book for Blackwell, Liu mentioned that demand for the chip is “a lot better than we thought,” including that the agency is constructing new factories in Mexico to assist service outsized demand for the product.

His feedback tally with what Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has mentioned about demand for Blackwell beforehand. Final week, Huang advised CNBC’s “Closing Bell Overtime” that demand for Blackwell was “insane.”

“Everyone desires to have probably the most and everyone desires to be first,” Huang mentioned through the interview, which aired final Wednesday.

Blackwell, anticipated to price between $30,000 and $40,000 per unit, is in scorching demand from corporations like OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta and different corporations constructing AI information facilities to energy merchandise like ChatGPT and Copilot.

Past producing IT infrastructure for cloud-based AI purposes like ChatGPT, Foxconn can also be powering the brand new iPhone 16, which comes with the newest generative AI options Apple hopes will breathe new life into the smartphone business.

Foxconn’s Liu mentioned that “on-device” AI — the place information is processed straight on a cellular system, slightly than a cloud or server — represents the subsequent substantial progress alternative for the corporate.

“I believe the genAI-related system would be the subsequent solution to develop,” Liu advised CNBC. “At present, we’re seeing this on the cloud aspect. You see that genAI cloud gear was very a lot booming.”

“However within the subsequent section, what we’re seeing would be the Gen AI gadgets,” he added. “We expect that would be the subsequent huge solution to increase … We’ve very excessive hopes on these gadgets.”

Nonetheless, it is price noting although that Apple hasn’t but launched its AI system, known as Apple Intelligence, on iPhone. The corporate is predicted to launch Apple Intelligence to the general public in a beta model later this fall as a part of a brand new software program replace.

Smartphone makers are hoping for a new era of continuous growth for the smartphone industry, referred to as a “supercycle,” on the again of the AI options they’re cramming into their newer handsets. Past Apple, Samsung, Google and Huawei spinoff Honor have all gone huge on AI with their new cellphone launches.

Smartphone gross sales have been gaining momentum this yr after a number of consecutive years of declines. Within the second quarter of 2024, smartphone shipments climbed 6.5% year-over-year to 285.4 million models, in response to preliminary information from IDC — their fourth straight quarter of progress.