TAIPEI (March 14): Apple supplier Foxconn reported on Thursday a 33% rise in fourth-quarter profit, beating estimates, thanks to booming demand for AI servers and strong sales during the peak year-end holiday season.

The world's largest contract electronics maker also forecast a slow start to 2024, but that the year would end with a significant revenue increase.

The Taiwanese company said net profit for the October-December quarter rose to T$53.14 billion (RM7.9 billion) from T$40 billion in the same period the previous year.

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 its 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 for the period.

The company, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, 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.

Apple 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.