Hon Hai expects to deliver over 10,000 Model C SUVs in 2024

Taipei, May 31 (CNA) Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., also known as Foxconn globally, expects to deliver more than 10,000 Model C sport utility vehicles (SUV) in 2024, company Chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said at a shareholders' meeting Friday.

Developed by Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co., Ltd., an electric vehicle joint venture between Hon Hai and auto conglomerate Yulon Group, a total of 2,100 Model C SUVs have been delivered to clients so far, with a further 9,000 expected to be delivered by the third quarter of the year, Liu said.

In addition, preparations for mass production of the Model B crossover prototype are expected to begin in the fourth quarter, and advance orders can be placed starting from the end of 2024 to early 2025, Liu said.

The construction of a factory in Kaohsiung that will be used to manufacture Foxtron's Model E prototype electric buses is set to be completed in the third quarter of 2025, and the factory will have an initial capacity of 500 e-buses a year, Liu said.

Foxtron began mass production of Model T e-buses in June 2022 and has supplied them to bus companies in several cities and counties in Taiwan.

Hon Hai unveiled the Model C SUV and Model T e-bus prototypes on October Tech Day in 2021, and the Model B crossover on October Tech Day in 2022.

In terms of artificial intelligence (AI) development, Liu said Hon Hai will be collaborating with Nvidia on AI and that Hon Hai will set up an AI lab in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung.

Details of the collaboration are expected to be announced in June, he previously said.

In 2023, Hon Hai had server revenue of about NT$1 trillion (US$35.71 billion), or nearly 40 percent of global market share, according to Liu.

Of that about NT$300 billion, or 30 percent of the company's total server revenue, came from AI servers.

Liu expected Hon Hai's AI server revenue growth to exceed 40 percent in 2024 from a year earlier, and that AI servers could become the next product to generate more than NT$1 trillion in revenue for the company.

According to Liu, Hon Hai overcame several macroeconomic obstacles, such as high inflation, to generate revenue of NT$6.16 trillion in 2023, the second highest in the company's history.

It also posted earnings per share of NT$10.25, the highest in 16 years, and the company will distribute a cash dividend of NT$5.4 per share this year, the highest ever, according to Liu.

Meanwhile, Liu said Hon Hai is expecting to mass produce the third-generation silicon carbide (SiC) module in the coming year, with production to start in the third quarter of 2024 at the SiC module factory in Hsinchu.

He also announced that the Hon Hai Tech Day event -- which will expand to two days this year -- will fall on Oct. 8, and will be open to members of the public on Oct. 9.