Foxconn launches traditional Chinese large language model for AI-driven manufacturing

Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer and major iPhone supplier for Apple, launched its first Chinese large language model (LLM) trained on traditional characters, as the Taiwanese company pushes forward the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in factories.

The new FoxBrain model was trained in a “more efficient and lower-cost” method within just four weeks, and sets a new milestone in the development of Taiwan’s AI technology, according to a statement issued on Monday by Foxconn, known formally as Hon Hai Precision Industry.

With a training process powered by 120 Nvidia H100 graphics processing units (GPUs), FoxBrain excels in maths and logical reasoning, according to Foxconn. It was originally designed for internal applications in the company, but Foxconn said it will be open sourced in the future, as part of efforts to collaborate with technology partners to expand its applications and promote AI in manufacturing.

LLMs are the technology underpinning generative AI services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Open source gives public access to a software’s source code, allowing third-party developers to modify or share its design, fix broken links or scale up its capabilities.

Foxconn’s latest initiative reflects the company’s goal to push its own AI breakthroughs in terms of manufacturing efficiency.

That follows Chinese start-up DeepSeek’s launch earlier this year of its high-performance R1 reasoning model, which was open-sourced and developed at a fraction of the cost of AI models from larger companies like OpenAI, Google and Meta Platforms.

“In recent months, the deepening of reasoning capabilities and the efficient use of GPUs have gradually become the mainstream development in the field of AI,” said Li Yung-Hui, director of the Artificial Intelligence Research Centre at Hon Hai Research Institute, the research arm of the manufacturer, in the statement.