TAIPEI, April 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn,

the world's largest contract electronics maker and the biggest

assembler of Apple's ( AAPL ) iPhone, said on Friday it expected a rise

in second quarter revenue after the previous quarter

underperformed market expectations.

The first quarter is traditionally quieter than the previous

one, the season when Taiwan's tech companies race to supply

smartphones, tablets and other electronics to major vendors such

as Apple ( AAPL ) for Western markets' year-end holiday period.

Foxconn said in a statement that this year's second quarter

"remains a traditional off-peak season, and major products are

entering a period of transition between old and new products".

But it said the outlook for the second quarter would be for

growth both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year. It did not

elaborate and the company does not give numerical guidance.

The company, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry Co

Ltd ( HNHPF ), said revenue last month reached T$447.54 billion ($13.96

billion), which it said was the second highest figure on record

for the same period and represented an on-year rise of 11.8%.

For the first quarter, revenue slid 9.6% year-on-year to

T$1.322 trillion, underperforming a T$1.401 trillion LSEG

SmartEstimate, which gives greater weight to forecasts from

analysts who are more consistently accurate.

The company said last month it expected first quarter

revenue to slightly decline, and noted in its statement the

first quarter revenue was in line with its outlook.

First quarter revenue in its smart consumer electronics

products, including smartphones, declined year-on-year, which it

blamed on a high base from last year when it was rushing to

fulfil orders after a key factory in China's Zhengzhou re-opened

following COVID pandemic-related disruptions.

However, for cloud and networking products it said there was

significant year-on-year growth in the first three months of the

year, "with strong customers' pull-in for the cloud segment".

Last month, Foxconn adopted a far more bullish outlook for

this year, saying on its fourth quarter earnings call that it

expected a significant rise in revenue driven by booming demand

for artificial intelligence servers.

Foxconn's shares have surged 52% so far this year, compared

with a 13% jump for the broader market.

The company holds its first quarter earnings calls on May

14.

($1 = 32.0590 Taiwan dollars)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Muralikumar

Anantharaman and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)