Latest news with #AIservers
Forbes
21 hours ago
- Automotive
- Forbes
Foxconn Sells Ohio Plant And Will Oversee AI Server Production There
There's an interesting wrinkle in international business stateside involving a facility in Lordstown, Ohio, and big changes for production there. Tech media are noting this week that Hon Hai, affiliated with Foxconn, is selling the factory to a company called Crescent Dune LLC, but that this transfer in ownership is a trade in name only. Reports at Bloomberg and elsewhere indicate the plant will be used to make AI servers for clients like Nvidia and Apple. Here's how it's explained in a release at Outlook Business that appears to have been written by AI, and 'curated' by someone named Shashank Bhatt: 'Under the transaction, closed with Crescent Dune LLC, Foxconn transfers ownership of the land and equipment but will continue to operate on site under a long-term occupancy agreement, according to US Securities and Exchange Commission filings and a company statement.' The sourcing also shows the deal was for $375 million for a plant totaling around 3 million square feet. Foxconn bought the plant as recently as 2022 from Lordstown Motors, which had previously bought it from GM in 2019. So the timeline would be as follows: Reports also show that Foxconn had intended to manufacture the Fisker Pear there prior to Fisker's bankruptcy. Basically, the site had a checkered past involving obstacles to the production of various EV models under multiple brands. Monarch Tractors Case in point: a few years ago, a local news affiliate covered the unveiling of a project where the Lordstown plant would manufacture a model of electric tractor owned by the Monarch brand. Business leaders spoke about the promise of this project, and showed off a prototype. But how many tractors did they build? I did some digging: it turns out that the best numbers only indicate an unknown number of Monarch tractors produced in Lordstown from 5 to 500. Many of us have been warned not to simply use ChatGPT to get such stats, so after reading the model's response, I found the relevant sources. A press release early in the project showed five units built and shipped. The other source is a TechCrunch article from Nov. 2024 that specified 500 tractors had been built. However, that number is shared between the Lordstown facility and a California location. You can see here how modern investigation works: we can only get the numbers that are public, where the best guess is that they build a couple of hundred Monarch tractors at the plant, which is now pivoting to AI server production. The TechCrunch piece further reveals 35 layoffs and quick restructuring, which now makes sense, given there will not be any EVs rolling off the assembly line there anytime soon. Future Plans Going back to the above-quoted article, we have this: 'By offloading real estate and heavy-asset ownership to Crescent Dune, Foxconn can reallocate capital towards faster-growing technology segments while retaining operational control. The transaction also mitigates the financial drag of the underperforming EV project and preserves jobs at the Ohio site, which currently employs several hundred workers.' There's also bigger-picture analysis: 'Foxconn's strategic realignment underscores a broader industry trend: manufacturers shifting from electric-vehicle initiatives, often capital-intensive with uncertain returns, to the more predictable, high-margin business of AI hardware assembly.' As for the AI server business, this makes a lot of sense, given Nvidia's recent breakthrough of the $4 trillion mark in terms of market cap. More predictable returns, indeed. Cases like this show where the market is going and how this impacts geopolitical calculus involving the chip trade. 'One of few good points to arise from the global pandemic is that it has spurred a national push to strengthen the domestic supply chain, especially for essential products,' wrote an editorial team at the Ohio Tribune Chronicle in 2021, specifically citing the Lordstown facility and Foxconn's planned operations. 'Studies show job announcements for reshoring — the process of returning production and manufacturing of goods back to the company's original country — are growing. In fact, the number of companies reporting new reshoring and foreign direct investment in the U.S. are at more than 1,800 this year. According to a report released in September by Reshoring Initiative, a U.S.-based initiative that promotes reshoring and provides tools and support for companies evaluating locations, Ohio ranks No. 1 so far this year in reshoring announcements, with 37 companies totaling 12,423 jobs.' Presumably, many would say the same about this new project. It will still involve production in the U.S. and investment by the Chinese mega-firm: it's just that a third party will technically own the building and the equipment. But this kind of story also shows how hard it can be to break down the facts on a timeline for a particular business location. Keep your eyes peeled as AI continues to impact international trade in a big way.
TechCrunch
5 days ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
NeoLogic wants to build more energy-efficient CPUs for AI data centers
When NeoLogic started building its more energy-efficient CPUs for AI servers, folks in the industry told its founders Avi Messica and Ziv Leshem that their idea wasn't viable. 'Most of the people that we have met say it's impossible,' Messica told TechCrunch. 'Some of them told us, at the time, that the innovation is impossible because you cannot innovate in logic synthesis. You can't innovate in circuit design. It's too mature.' Israel-based NeoLogic nevertheless set out to prove them wrong, and the fabless semiconductor startup has been building a server CPU that uses more simplified logic — how a chip processes information — with fewer transistors and logic gates to run faster while requiring less power. NeoLogic was founded in 2021 by Messica, CEO, and Leshem, CTO, who together have 50 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. Leshem spent decades working on chip design at companies like Intel and Synopsis, while Messica focused on circuit design and the manufacturing side. 'We co-founded this company more than four years ago because Moore's Law was dead,' Messica said, referring to the 1960s observation that the number of transistors on microchips doubles every two years. Around a decade ago, Messica said, companies stopped trying to scale transistors down in size, because transistors had gotten so small, there wasn't much more progress to be made there. But, he says, NeoLogic wasn't convinced. The startup is working with two hyperscaler partners on the design of the server CPUs, but Messica would not disclose their names. The company plans to have a single-core test chip by the end of the year, and hopes to get its server CPUs into data centers by 2027. Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $600+ before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW NeoLogic recently raised a $10 million Series A round led by KOMPAS VC with participation from M Ventures, Maniv Mobility and lool Ventures. The company will use the funds to expand its engineering team and continue developing its CPUs. The funding round comes as data centers are straining existing energy resources with no relief in sight. The ongoing AI boom has data center power usage expected to double in just the next four years. Messica hopes that NeoLogic's energy-saving potential will help make its server CPUs too attractive for the market to ignore. 'It affects everything,' Messica said of the potential energy savings. 'If you talk about next-generation data centers, it affects the construction costs; it affects the amount of capital that you'll invest because you can shave off roughly 30% of the cost. And it affects the water usage. It has an impact on society, and basically that was our vision roughly five years ago.'
Yahoo
08-08-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
SoftBank reportedly bought Foxconn's Ohio factory for the Stargate AI project
The mystery buyer of the former General Motors factory owned by Foxconn in Lordstown, Ohio is apparently SoftBank, according to Bloomberg News. SoftBank wants to use the factory to build AI servers as part of the Stargate data center project being spearheaded by the Japanese conglomerate, OpenAI, and Oracle. The report comes just a few days after Foxconn announced it had sold the factory, along with electric vehicle manufacturing equipment that was inside of it, to a buyer it only referred to as 'Crescent Dune LLC' — an entity that was created in Delaware in late July. Neither company immediately responded to requests for comment. It's unclear what this means for Monarch Tractor, a California-based startup that develops electric and autonomous farm equipment. Monarch was the lone customer of Foxconn's contract manufacturing operation at the Ohio factory, after the other three of the Taiwanese tech giant's prospective customers went bankrupt. Monarch CEO Praveen Penmesta has not responded to emailed requests for comment. SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle announced the Stargate project one day after Donald Trump's inauguration. The effort currently involves a large data center that is being built in Texas, but the companies involved have said they want to build infrastructure in other states and countries. In May, Bloomberg reported that SoftBank was struggling to line up funding for the project, and that it was already being hampered by Trump's myriad trade wars. Foxconn bought the factory in late 2021 from electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors. At the time, Foxconn chairman Young Liu said his company wanted to develop the site into the 'most important electric vehicle manufacturing and R&D hub in North America.' The sale closed in 2022 and, one year later, Lordstown Motors filed for bankruptcy. Prospective customers like Fisker Inc. and California startup IndiEV also went out of business. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
TechCrunch
08-08-2025
- Automotive
- TechCrunch
SoftBank reportedly bought Foxconn's Ohio factory for the Stargate AI project
The mystery buyer of the former General Motors factory owned by Foxconn in Lordstown, Ohio is apparently SoftBank, according to Bloomberg News. SoftBank wants to use the factory to build AI servers as part of the Stargate data center project being spearheaded by the Japanese conglomerate, OpenAI, and Oracle. The report comes just a few days after Foxconn announced it had sold the factory, along with electric vehicle manufacturing equipment that was inside of it, to a buyer it only referred to as 'Crescent Dune LLC' — an entity that was created in Delaware in late July. Neither company immediately responded to requests for comment. It's unclear what this means for Monarch Tractor, a California-based startup that develops electric and autonomous farm equipment. Monarch was the lone customer of Foxconn's contract manufacturing operation at the Ohio factory, after the other three of the Taiwanese tech giant's prospective customers went bankrupt. Monarch CEO Praveen Penmesta has not responded to emailed requests for comment. SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle announced the Stargate project one day after Donald Trump's inauguration. The effort currently involves a large data center that is being built in Texas, but the companies involved have said they want to build infrastructure in other states and countries. In May, Bloomberg reported that SoftBank was struggling to line up funding for the project, and that it was already being hampered by Trump's myriad trade wars. Foxconn bought the factory in late 2021 from electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors. At the time, Foxconn chairman Young Liu said his company wanted to develop the site into the 'most important electric vehicle manufacturing and R&D hub in North America.' The sale closed in 2022 and, one year later, Lordstown Motors filed for bankruptcy. Prospective customers like Fisker Inc. and California startup IndiEV also went out of business.
Bloomberg
04-08-2025
- Automotive
- Bloomberg
Nvidia Partner Hon Hai to Expand AI Server Assembly in the US
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. has agreed to sell an EV plant in Ohio for $375 million, under an arrangement in which the Taiwanese company aims to shift toward assembling AI servers at the US facility. Nvidia Corp. 's major server production partner plans to sell the Ohio facility including land and equipment to Crescent Dune LLC, it said in exchange filings on Monday. Hon Hai said in a separate statement it will continue to occupy the complex, without saying how. The plan is for Hon Hai to continue operating the plant and use the site for its own AI server manufacturing business, a person familiar with the matter said. The person asked to remain anonymous because that information isn't public.
