On November 21, 2025, OpenAI, a leader in the field of artificial intelligence, announced a strategic partnership with Foxconn, the world's largest electronics manufacturing services provider. The two companies will jointly advance the design of next-generation AI infrastructure hardware and prepare for its manufacturing within the United States. This collaboration signifies a deep integration of the AI industry and manufacturing, and indicates a further strengthening of the US AI supply chain.

Collaboration Details and Core Areas

According to a joint statement released by both parties, the collaboration will focus on three core areas:

Co-design of Multi-Generation Data Center Hardware: OpenAI and Foxconn will concurrently advance the joint design, engineering, and product development of multiple generations of AI data center racks. This parallel approach aims to efficiently match the rapid iteration demands of AI models. By integrating OpenAI's infrastructure roadmap with Foxconn's manufacturing capabilities, the partners seek to significantly shorten new system deployment cycles and prepare in advance for long-term capacity growth.

Optimizing and Streamlining the US AI Supply Chain: The partners will jointly improve rack architecture to better suit distributed manufacturing across multiple locations within the US. This initiative includes broadening procurement channels for chipsets and domestic suppliers, and expanding the scale of localized testing and assembly. These efforts are expected to substantially enhance supply chain resilience, accelerate deployment efficiency, and build a more scalable domestic US AI ecosystem.

Domestic US Manufacturing of Critical AI Data Center Components: Foxconn will manufacture core AI data center equipment, including cabling systems, networking equipment, cooling systems, and power supply systems, at its US-based factories. This will robustly support the rapid expansion of high-performance computing infrastructure, ensure related economic benefits reach US workers and manufacturers, and meet the explosive growth demands of current and future AI workloads.

Background and Synergies

OpenAI Company Background

Founded in December 2015 and headquartered in San Francisco, USA, OpenAI is a company focused on AI research and deployment with a mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity. By October 2025, OpenAI's valuation had soared to $500 billion, making it one of the world's most valuable tech companies. OpenAI has consistently innovated in the AI field, launching landmark products such as ChatGPT and Sora, and releasing the more powerful GPT-5 model in August 2025.

Foxconn Company Background

Foxconn Technology Group is the world's largest electronics technology manufacturing services provider, headquartered in Shenzhen, China. A subsidiary of Hon Hai Technology Group, Foxconn ranks first globally in the Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) sector, holding a market share of over 40%. In recent years, Foxconn has actively pursued transformation, increasing its investments in cloud and AI. In 2024, nearly 30% of NVIDIA's AI server orders went to Foxconn, demonstrating its strong capabilities in AI hardware manufacturing.

Significance and Industry Impact

Strengthening the US AI Supply Chain: By incorporating more domestic suppliers and chipset vendors into the R&D process, the partnership aims to build a more resilient and scalable supply chain for the US. This includes expanding localized testing and assembly operations, thereby reducing reliance on overseas supply chains.

Accelerating Deployment of Advanced AI Systems: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated: "The infrastructure behind advanced AI offers a generational opportunity for America to reindustrialize and helps ensure the benefits of AI are broadly shared." This collaboration is expected to significantly shorten the cycle from AI hardware design to deployment.

Promoting Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading: Foxconn Chairman Young Liu emphasized that as the world's largest manufacturer of AI data servers, Foxconn possesses unique advantages to support OpenAI's expansion of trusted infrastructure. This partnership will provide Foxconn with deep insights into the computing power needs of large AI companies, propelling its transition from traditional manufacturing towards high-end smart manufacturing.

Transforming the Global AI Hardware Ecosystem: For semiconductor engineers, data center specialists, and OEM decision-makers, this move signals a significant shift in the AI hardware ecosystem as it adapts to meet growing global computational demands.

Key Characteristics of the Partnership

Right of First Assessment: OpenAI holds the right to first assessment for Foxconn products. This grants OpenAI greater initiative in selecting server hardware, moving beyond passively waiting for existing solutions from the supply chain.

Light-Touch Binding Model: The agreement does not include specific purchasing commitments, granting only the right of first assessment to OpenAI. This "light-binding" model preserves OpenAI's flexibility to collaborate with other manufacturers, while also allowing Foxconn to mitigate the risk of over-reliance on a single customer.

Marking a Strategic Shift: Foxconn's involvement is part of OpenAI's efforts to gain greater autonomy over its computing infrastructure. Recent indications suggest OpenAI is transitioning from a primarily asset-light model reliant on cloud providers towards a model involving self-built data centers with heavier asset investment.

Industry Commentary and Future Outlook

Analysts point out that Foxconn will produce data center components, including cables, power systems, and networking equipment, at its US factories. This is expected to strengthen the supply chain and potentially circumvent any tariffs imposed by a potential Trump administration. Furthermore, Foxconn recently announced a joint venture with Intrinsic, an Alphabet subsidiary, to establish general-purpose robotics and automation facilities within manufacturing plants, aiming to accelerate production capabilities.

The partnership between OpenAI and Foxconn represents an emerging trend of deep integration between the AI industry and manufacturing. By combining OpenAI's insights into current and future model requirements with Foxconn's manufacturing expertise, the two companies will work together to strengthen the US domestic supply chain and accelerate the deployment of advanced AI systems. This collaboration holds strategic significance not only for both parties but is also poised to have a profound impact on the entire AI hardware industry.