Nov 20 (Reuters) - Foxconn will collaborate with

U.S.-based OpenAI to design and engineer data center racks,

components, and other artificial intelligence hardware, the

Taiwanese company said on Thursday, as both firms seek to

capitalize on booming demand for AI infrastructure.

While the initial agreement does not include purchase

commitments or financial obligations, OpenAI will have early

access to evaluate the systems and an option to buy them,

Foxconn said.

The tie-up will allow Foxconn, the world's largest contract

electronics maker, an insight into the growing compute needs of

large AI firms and help design products that meet the

requirements of advanced large language models.

The Nvidia ( NVDA ) supplier last week offered a bullish

outlook on AI-related demand, saying it would be a big driver of

2026 growth as Foxconn rides the data center boom and benefits

from the billions invested by Big Tech firms.

The deal expands OpenAI's involvement in hardware design,

having partnered with Broadcom ( AVGO ) to develop its own

custom chip, as it seeks to take a hands-on approach to creating

AI systems.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said the startup is committed to

spending $1.4 trillion to develop 30 gigawatts of computing

resources - enough to roughly power 25 million U.S. homes.

Foxconn will manufacture the data center components, which

include cables, power systems, and networking equipment at its

U.S. facilities, bolstering supply chains and side-stepping any

potential tariffs from the Trump administration.

Separately on Thursday, Foxconn announced a joint venture

with Alphabet unit Intrinsic to establish

general-purpose robotics and automation across manufacturing

facilities to speed-up production.

Initially, the collaboration will cover a range of scenarios

across assembly, inspection, machine tending and logistics

applications.