By Kosaku Narioka


Foxconn Technology Group shares rose sharply after it reported higher fourth-quarter net profit and forecast significant growth this year, helped by investments in artificial intelligence.

Shares were recently 8.7% higher at 131.50 New Taiwan dollars on Friday after rising as much as 9.5% earlier.

The Taiwan-based electronics maker said after Thursday's market close that net profit rose 33% from a year earlier to NT$53.145 billion (US$1.68 billion) for the final three months of 2023, beating analysts' estimates.

Foxconn had provided a cautious outlook for 2024, but it said Thursday that the AI boom will enable significant growth. Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, makes servers and other devices used in AI applications.

The company said it expects business in its consumer-electronics segment to be largely flat this year.

Foxconn, known for assembling Apple's iPhones, has been taking steps in recent years to diversify its business lines to include electric vehicles and AI. It is expanding production in countries such as India to reduce concentration in China.

Foxconn said it started delivering its Model C EVs to customers this quarter.

Young Liu, the company's chairman, said he will attend an Nvidia conference next week in the U.S. Foxconn in October said it would expand its partnership with Nvidia to develop a new class of data centers that can power AI services.


Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-14-24 2242ET