Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on January 24, 2025
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker, beat expectations to post its highest-ever revenue for the fourth quarter on continued strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers.
Revenue for Apple's biggest iPhone assembler jumped 15.2% to T$2.13 trillion ($64.72 billion), Foxconn said in a statement on Sunday.
It was also ahead of a T$2.1 trillion LSEG SmartEstimate, which gives greater weight to forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.
Robust AI server demand led to strong revenue growth for its cloud and networking products division, said Foxconn, whose customers include AI chip firm Nvidia.
For smart consumer electronics, which includes iPhones, there was "roughly flattish" year-on-year growth, it said.
Total revenue in December alone reached T$654.8 billion, up 42.3% year on year.
"In the first quarter of 2025, overall operations have gradually entered the traditional off-season," Foxconn said of its outlook for the current quarter.
"Even with record high revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024, the sequential performance of the first quarter will reach roughly similar levels that are average to the past five years; compared with a year ago, it should show significant growth."
The company, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry, did not elaborate. It does not provide numerical forecasts.
Foxconn's shares jumped 76% last year, outperforming by far a 28.5% rise for the broader Taiwan market. They closed down 0.8% on Friday ahead of the revenue data release, compared with a 0.3% gain for the benchmark index.
The company will report its full fourth-quarter earnings on March 14.
(This Jan. 5 story has been corrected to remove the reference to milestone for December revenue in paragraph 6 after the company amended its statement)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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