Foxconn Chairman Young Liu said Friday that he met with OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman and that a new collaboration between the two companies was in the works, with details to follow once confirmed. The disclosure came the same day Liu dismissed worries about an AI investment bubble and pointed to Foxconn's six Houston, Texas factory buildings, which manufacture AI servers for Nvidia, as a site where the company sees room for further growth.
Chairman Flags New Collaboration After Altman Meeting
Liu said he had met with Altman earlier in the day and that an announcement would follow once collaboration details were confirmed, according to Channel News Asia. The outlet reported that a collaboration with OpenAI was in the works, though specifics were not yet available. Foxconn is formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry and is the world's biggest contract electronics manufacturer, and it has become Nvidia's biggest AI server maker as the company increasingly relies on AI infrastructure for growth, the outlet noted. The same report traced the relationship back to a 2025 agreement in which Foxconn and OpenAI agreed to work together on designing and engineering data-center racks, components and other AI hardware. Reuters first reported the latest development out of Taipei, as detailed in the Sacramento Bee.
That original agreement was spelled out in a November 2025 announcement from Foxconn, which said the companies would co-design, engineer and develop multiple generations of AI data-center racks. Under that deal, Foxconn also committed to manufacturing key equipment for AI data centers in the United States, including cabling, networking, cooling and power systems, the company said in its own release. Importantly, that initial agreement did not include purchase commitments or financial obligations, though it gave OpenAI early access to evaluate the systems along with an option to purchase them, per the same release.
No Bubble, Liu Insists, Even as AI Stocks Wobble
Liu's comments arrived against a backdrop of jittery markets. AI-sector stocks have been hit by concerns that heavy investment in the technology is unsustainable amid climbing borrowing costs, the station's report noted. Liu pushed back directly, saying the industry was not in a bubble, and he forecast that Foxconn expects to maintain double-digit growth in 2027.
Those projections build on a strong recent run. Foxconn reported second-quarter revenue of NT$2.53 trillion, up 41 percent year over year, according to a Foxconn earnings release. The company said AI server-rack shipments are projected to see high double-digit growth and more than double for the full year. Foxconn also said its capital expenditure will keep rising next year across Taiwan, the United States, Mexico and Vietnam, per the same release. Separately, Foxconn told Channel News Asia in August that its cloud and networking products segment, which includes AI servers, accounted for 51 percent of second-quarter revenue — the first time that segment topped half of quarterly sales.
Houston's Role in Foxconn's AI Buildout
Foxconn's six Houston factory buildings already manufacture AI servers for Nvidia, and the company sees a need for further expansion there, Liu indicated, per Channel News Asia's report. Foxconn expects AI infrastructure to account for 60 percent to 65 percent of its total revenue over the next three to five years, excluding edge AI devices, according to CNBC.
The Houston expansion has deep local roots. The Greater Houston Partnership said last year that Foxconn had committed to investing $450 million in the city and creating about 600 jobs at its AI-related facilities, according to the Houston Chronicle. The partnership estimated that investment could generate roughly $920 million in economic impact and 814 indirect jobs. Foxconn has about 2,000 employees spread across the Houston region already, and the company has said it plans to train workers there in server cabling, testing, troubleshooting and energy-efficiency management, the newspaper reported.
