By Yimou Lee and Faith Hung

TAIPEI, March 14 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) supplier

Foxconn said on Thursday it expects revenue to

increase significantly in 2024 following a slow start to the

year amid booming demand for AI servers, after it posted

fourth-quarter profit that beat market estimates.

The outlook has turned rosier since Foxconn Chairman

Young Liu said in November the world's largest contract

electronics maker had "relatively conservative and neutral"

expectations for 2024.

The Taiwanese company said October-December net profit

jumped 33% to T$53.14 billion ($1.69 billion) from T$40 billion

in the same period the previous year thanks to robust demand for

AI servers and strong sales during the peak year-end holiday

season.

The profit beat a T$43.52 billion LSEG SmartEstimate,

which gives greater weight to forecasts from analysts who are

more consistently accurate.

In the fourth quarter, consumer electronics including

smartphones accounted for 58% of revenue while cloud and

networking products, including servers, contributed 20%.

Foxconn said it expects revenue for the first quarter to

slightly decline from a year earlier, with revenue for smart

computer electronics also likely to drop in the period.

The company, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry Co

Ltd ( HNHPF ), has said it expects slowness in this year's first quarter

to be similar to the same period of the previous three years.

Still, it sees 2024 revenue increasingly significantly

year-on-year, it said.

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.

Apple ( AAPL ) last month reported sales and profit that beat Wall

Street estimates, powered by growth in its iPhone business

though its China sales missed analysts' targets.

Foxconn's shares closed up 0.4% on Thursday ahead of the

earnings release, compared with a flat broader market.

($1 = 31.5050 Taiwan dollars)