Nvidia, Foxconn to Leverage Humanoid Robots for AI Server Production in Houston Plant

US AI chip maker Nvidia and the world’s largest contract electronics maker Foxconn are discussing deployment of humanoid robots at Foxconn’s Houston plant. According to Reuters, Foxconn will use the new factory to manufacture AI servers for Nvidia. If the two companies agree, it will be the first time that Nvidia Foxconn humanoid robots are used to manufacture a product for the US AI chipUS AI chip giant.

An Adoption Milestone

The Houston factory will also be the first AI server factory to use robots in the production line.
The Taiwanese company is expected to finalise deployment of humanoid robots in the factory in the coming months.

Deployment of robotics in the Foxconn Houston AI server factory will mark an important milestone in humanoid robots adoption, an aspect that could change production processes completely. The contract electronics manufacturer is working with Nvidia to make its own human-like robots. It has also been involved in testing humanoids manufactured by Chinese company, UBTech.

Sources close to Nvidia and Foxconn say it’s still not clear what kind of humanoids will be deployed in the Houston plant. Information about how the humanoids look like and the number that will be deployed at the beginning is also not available.

Foxconn plans to use the Houston robotics factory to manufacture GB300 servers for the US chip giant. The two companies are looking to have the robots working by quarter one of 2026, which is the time the new Houston plant is set to start production of AI servers.

An Ideal Site

The fact that the Houston factory is new makes it ideal for Foxconn to deploy humanoid robots. The plant is also more spacious compared to other AI server production sites owned by the company.

While details of what the humanoid robots will be doing in the factory remain scarce, Foxconn appears to have been preparing them for deployment for some time now. In a presentation made last month, the company said it was training humanoid robots to place objects, pick them up, assemble items, and insert cables.

Last month, Leo Guo, who works as the general manager of the robotics business unit at Foxconn’s Industrial Internet said the contract electronics firm was planning to showcase two versions of its humanoid robots at its annual tech event in November this year. One of the robots is fitted with legs, while the other uses a wheeled autonomous mobile base.
According to Guo, the robot with the wheeled base is slightly cheaper than the version that uses legs. He did not reveal more deals about the robots during the event. Foxconn Industrial Internet is the subsidiary of Foxconn in charge of the company’s AI server business.

Tech Advancement

For Nvidia, application of humanoid robots in the production of its AI servers reflects a significant step in its push for technology. The company already provides a platform which humanoid manufacturers can use to develop such robots.

In March this year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang projected that wide application of humanoids in production factories was less than 5 years away. In the US, Tesla is developing its own humanoid robots. The electric vehicle maker has said that it will be deploying them in its production facilities.

Already, German automakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz have tested the application of humanoids on the manufacturing line. China is also betting on the deployment of humanoids in factories where it expects them to perform numerous tasks.

In April this year, Nvidia made public its plans to set up AI supercomputer production plants in Texas. The AI chip giant said it would partner with Foxconn to establish the plants in Dallas and Houston. Production in both plants is expected to commence in the coming 12 to 15 months.