Foxconn beats estimates with record Q4 revenue driven by AI demand

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 per cent to $2.13 trillion ($64.72 billion), Foxconn said in a statement on Sunday. 

It was also ahead of a $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 $654.8 billion, up 42.3 per cent year on year and the second-highest ever level for the month. 

"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 per cent last year, outperforming by far a 28.5 per cent rise for the broader Taiwan market. They closed down 0.8 per cent on Friday ahead of the revenue data release, compared with a 0.3 per cent gain for the benchmark index. 

The company will report its full fourth-quarter earnings on March 14.  (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)