Hon Hai Precision Industry, known internationally as Foxconn, reported revenue of 2.1 trillion New Taiwan dollars ($63.9 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2024, marking a 15% year-over-year increase. This strong performance was primarily fueled by the growth in cloud and networking products, including AI servers designed by companies like Nvidia. The news sent ripples across the semiconductor industry, with shares of several firms in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. experiencing gains on Monday.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest chipmaker, reached a record high. Foxconn attributed its success to the burgeoning demand for cloud and networking products, while computing products and smart consumer electronics, including smartphones, saw 'slight declines.' In Asia, TSMC surged to a record high, closing 1.9% higher in Taiwan. Other Asian chip firms also climbed, with South Korea's SK Hynix and Samsung recording nearly 10% and 4% gains, respectively. European semiconductor equipment firm ASML saw its shares jump almost 6%, while fellow Dutch chip company ASMI's stock rose almost 5%. Germany's Infineon also surged more than 6%. Nvidia, a key beneficiary of Foxconn's strong performance, gained 2% in U.S. premarket trading. Microsoft, among other tech giants, is investing heavily in Nvidia's GPUs (graphics processing units) to train and run advanced AI models. Nvidia's closest rival, AMD, rose 3% in pre-market trading, while fellow U.S. chip firms Qualcomm and Broadcom both climbed almost 2%