Foxconn Electronics (the registered trade name of Hon Hai Precision Industry) may hold a press conference to officially introduce self-developed own-brand graphics cards made by itself during the upcoming Computex 2006 exhibition, according to sources. Foxconn's first own-brand graphics card, the PX7900GTX based on Nvidia's GeForce 7900 GTX (G71) graphics processing unit (GPU) that was shown at the CeBIT show in March, was manufactured by Flextronics International, which partnered with Nvidia to co-develop G71-based card products for Nvidia's branded customers, according to market sources.
The sources noted that it has been two years since Nvidia and ATI Technologies first planned to partner with assembly contract makers to co-produce high-end graphics cards for specific customers. The customers could simply attach their individual brands to the finished items and potentially reduce inventory risks because multiple companies could share the same basic design, the sources indicated.
Foxconn will start volume shipments of the PX7900GTX card, manufactured by Flextronics, at the end of the second quarter, according to the sources. It is currently unclear when the company will begin shipments of the cards that it will manufacture itself, but this may be clarified if the press conference goes ahead at Computex. Computex will be held at the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC) and the Taipei International Convention Center (TICC) from June 6 to June 10.
