Future Plans of FOXCONN
HEXUS has exclusively learnt that Taiwanese conglomerate FOXCONN is set to make a number of surprising announcements which will form the basis of its presence at this year's CeBIT exhibition in Hannover, Germany.First up is a new set of performance benchmarks for computer components, which FOXCONN will claim is "a multidimensional performance measuring system.”
Whilst the name of FOXCONN's benchmark system is as yet unknown, the system is currently well under development, and is set to be introduced sometime in Q3 2006.
In terms of new hardware products, FOXCONN will also be announcing a mainboard design which incorporates "four graphics card slots", which it will claim to be capable of operating in parallel; FOXCONN's buzz-term for this technology will be “immersive imagery.”
As if these announcements weren't surprising enough, FOXCONN will also be making noises about its intentions to bring to market a range of 3D graphics accelerators during the course of 2006. In this respect we can confirm that both ATI and NVIDIA have engaged in negotiations with FOXCONN, but it seems that no firm decisions have yet been made as to whether FOXCONN's graphics offerings will be exclusive to one graphics technology manufacturer.
Despite it already being the second-largest ODM manufacturer of ATI-based graphics accelerators (for companies such as GECUBE and PowerColor) we think it's a strong possibility that FOXCONN will offer both ATI- and NVIDIA-based products. Apparently a decision is set be made sometime during this spring.
Other items of interest that we believe will be announced include a one-third-sized mainboard, which will be produced to allow system integrators to offer ultra-compact PCs.
FOXCONN's CeBIT booth will also be the place where it showcases what seems to be the introduction a system overclocking and tuning tool, which we believe will be called FOXCONN “FOX-ONE” technology.
Seems to HEXUS that FOXCONN is keen to shed its fairly staid image, and capture the imagination, and wallets, of PC technology enthusiasts. It certainly has got the financial clout to do this convincingly, but does it have the right people in place? Only time will tell...
