Hon Hai reports highest sales ever for October

Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) Taiwan-based manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which has entered the artificial intelligence server business, reported on Tuesday its highest sales ever for the month of October due to robust global demand for AI applications.

In a statement, the iPhone assembler, also known as Foxconn globally, reported consolidated sales of NT$804.85 billion (US$25.15 billion) in October, up 8.59 percent from a year earlier and also up 9.8 percent from a year earlier.

The sales figure beat the previous high for past Octobers, set in October 2022 with NT$776.6 billion in sales, Hon Hai said.

On a year-on-year basis, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking divisions enjoyed strong growth in sales as clients placed large orders for gadgets used in AI and cloud services.

Its electronics component division saw an increase in shipments of key components and automotive-related parts, while its computing division benefited from the introduction of new products by its clients, Hon Hai said.

Sales generated by the smart consumer electronics division, however, stayed little changed from a year earlier in October, according to Hon Hai.

In the first 10 months of 2024, Hon Hai's consolidated sales totaled NT$5.53 trillion, up 9.57 percent from a year earlier.

Hon Hai said it expected sales momentum to accelerate quarter by quarter and that it was possible to score a year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter increase in sales in the fourth quarter.

The company will hold an investor conference on Nov. 14 to detail its third quarter results and give guidance for the fourth quarter.

In the third quarter, Hon Hai posted consolidated sales of NT$1.85 trillion, up 19.46 percent from a quarter earlier and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier.

The third quarter consolidated sales represented a new quarterly high, beating the previous high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in the third quarter of 2022.

Meanwhile, smartphone camera lens maker Largan Precision Co., another Apple supplier, reported on Tuesday that its consolidated sales for October totaled NT$6.55 billion, up about 4 percent from a year earlier and little changed from September.

The October sales echoed the cautious attitude of Largan Chairman Adam Lin (林恩平) at the company's investor conference in mid-October, when he said clients have scaled back orders.

Lin also forecast that shipments in November would fall significantly from October.

In October, Largan's lens above 20-megapixel -- which have a higher profit margin -- accounted for 10-20 percent of its total sales, with lenses of between 10 and 20 megapixels making up 60-70 percent, 8-megapixel lenses representing up to 10 percent, and other products making up 10-20 percent, the company said.

In the first 10 months of this year, Largan's consolidated sales rose 28 percent from a year earlier to NT$47.79 billion.