NVIDIA partners with Foxconn to build factories and systems for the AI industrial revolution
18 October 2023
NVIDIA is collaborating with Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) to accelerate the AI industrial revolution. The NVIDIA AI, DRIVE AV, Isaac Robotics and Omniverse platforms are to set a foundation for Foxconn AI and robotics systems to accelerate digitalisation of global industries.
Foxconn will integrate NVIDIA technology to develop a new class of data centres, powering a wide range of applications — including digitalisation 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 Isaac 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 centres that produce it are AI factories,” said NVIDIA's 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, optimised with NVIDIA AI Enterprise software.
Among the key NVIDIA technologies that 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 realise a new era of functionally-safe and secure software-defined cars.
More information on NVIDIA here. More on Foxconn here.
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