TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, reported a 13% drop in fourth-quarter profit as weak performance in its consumer electronics division offset strength in its AI server segment business.
Net profit for October-December for Apple’s top iPhone assembler and Nvidia’s AI server maker came in at T$46.33 billion ($1.41 billion), missing analysts’ average forecast of T$54.4 billion, according to an LSEG consensus estimate of 15 analysts.
Foxconn said in January its fourth-quarter revenue jumped 15.2% to a record for that quarter on strong sales of AI servers.
The company, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry, has said it expects first-quarter performance to be better than the average level of the past five years, and it will see strong year-over-year growth. It does not provide numerical guidance.
But an escalating global trade war has dimmed the prospects for its outlook this year, as it has a major manufacturing presence in China and Mexico, two of the top U.S. trading partners that now face increased import tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Apple said last month it will work with Foxconn to build a 250,000-square-foot (23,200-square-metre) facility in Houston, where it will assemble servers that go into data centres to power Apple Intelligence.
Foxconn holds its earnings call at 3 p.m. in Taipei (0700 GMT) on Friday, where it will also update its outlook for the rest of the year.
Foxconn’s shares have fallen 8.7% so far this year, hit by concerns about U.S. tariffs and trade policy.
($1 = 32.9550 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee, Yimou Lee and Faith Hung; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Kim Coghill)
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