Hon Hai Verifies Reported Partnership with NEC on Cloud

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, generally recognized as the world's No.1 electronics contract manufacturer, has verified recent reports regarding its partnership with NEC of Japan on setting up cloud-computing business in mainland China and elsewhere in Asia, albeit declining to provide details.

According to a recent Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) report, NEC plans to work with Hon Hai on cloud computing business, with the two to begin providing cloud-based services by the end of this year.

The Nikkei report indicates such cooperation to be mainly built on the integration of NEC's cloud-computing technology with Hon Hai's data centers and customer network.

Industry executives say cloud-based services allow users to access the servers hosted in the clouds through the Internet. For instance, Google Drive and Netflix provide such services to consumers. But Hon Hai and NEC will mainly target enterprise users to offer cloud-based services.

Market consultancy IDC forecasts cloud market revenues to total some US$122 billion by 2018, with around 30 percent generated by the Asian market.

Industry executives believe Hon Hai and NEC to install the servers as needed by their partnership at Hon Hai's massive data center in Kaohsiung (the southernmost major city) of Taiwan, and Guiyang, Guizhou of China, with the two parties to jointly market such services.