Foxconn Aims to Become World’s Largest Quantum Computer Manufacturer

Insider Brief

• Foxconn aims to become the world’s largest quantum computer manufacturer by building systems for companies that develop the underlying technology, Chairman Young Liu told CNBC.
• Liu said quantum computing remains at least two years away from commercial viability, describing the timeline as an industrywide challenge.
• Liu described quantum computers as accelerators for specialized calculations that would complement existing CPUs and GPUs.

Foxconn wants to become the world’s largest quantum computer manufacturer, betting on machines its chairman says will accelerate specialized calculations while taking at least another two years to become commercially viable.

Chairman Young Liu told CNBC that the company sees an opportunity to build quantum computers for businesses that develop the underlying technology. His comments outlined a manufacturing strategy centered on supplying other companies, alongside a view of quantum computing as an addition to existing computing systems.

“We focus on manufacturing,” Liu said. With quantum capabilities, he added, “we hope we can become the largest quantum computer manufacturer in the world without owning that technology.”

The ambition would give Foxconn a role in bringing other companies’ quantum designs into production. Liu described working with quantum computer brands and producing machines for them, allowing those businesses to pursue their own commercial success.

Foxconn, founded in Taiwan by Terry Gou in 1974, grew into the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer. Formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the company produces electronics and components for other companies

Two Years… With Qualifications

Quantum computing is steadily progressing from research and development toward commercial viability, but Liu said the industry still had work ahead.

“I would say it takes at least another two years, and I think it’s not just for us,” Liu told CNBC, “I think it’s for the whole industry.”

Liu’s answer nevertheless placed Foxconn’s ambitions beyond an immediate commercial payoff. He presented the remaining development period as an industrywide challenge, rather than a delay specific to the company.

An Accelerator Alongside Existing Computers

Liu’s explanation of quantum computing also narrowed the market he expects Foxconn to serve. He described machines designed to speed up particular calculations, rather than take over the broad range of work handled by conventional computers.

“It’s not a general purpose computer,” he told CNBC. “It accelerates certain computation.”

He said quantum computers would not replace central processing units, or CPUs, and graphics processing units, or GPUs. CPUs handle a computer’s general instructions, while GPUs can perform many calculations at once.

“They call NP problems, non-polynomial problems, that are very difficult for the classical classical computer to solve because it takes much longer period of time,” said Liu. “So I would not say that will be the next revolutionary computing devices. It will be a new addition to the compute devices with a special function that accelerates certain computation.”

To clarify, two models of quantum computing broadly see the device as either an independent replacement for existing computing or using it as a specialized resource within a larger system. Foxconn is approaching quantum computing as part of a hybrid computational workflow. Under the accelerator model Liu described, conventional computers would remain central, with quantum hardware contributing where its particular capabilities are useful.

The commercial test of quantum computing, then, would be whether it can improve a particular calculation enough to make its use worthwhile.

Liu said the acceleration could be exponential for certain applications, meaning the potential speed advantage could grow sharply as those problems become larger.

His remarks therefore described the capability he expects quantum computing to offer, rather than evidence of a measured performance advantage from the company’s hardware.

There are still significant barriers toward quantum computers serving even as components in hybrid computational systems, Lie suggested, adding that cost was a key concern.

Liu pointed to temperature requirements as one illustration of the expense involved in quantum hardware.

He told CNBC that a cable whose length he indicated during the interview could cost more than $1,000 because of those requirements.

The practical issue behind Foxconn’s ambition, then is that manufacturing these systems involves specialized components whose cost can be substantial even before a complete computer is assembled.