ASIA IN BRIEF Taiwanese mega-manufacturer Foxconn has adopted Singaporean hyperconverged infrastructure vendor (HCI) Arcrfra for some GPU virtualization workloads and to replace VMware in some remote offices.<\/p>\n
Arcfra launched in 2024 and the next year earned a place<\/a> on analyst firm Gartner\u2019s Market Guide for Full-Stack HCI Software. Last week, Arcfra launched<\/a> an update to its Neutree model-as-a-service platform, adding native GPU virtualization and model governance capabilities. The company said Foxconn has adopted Neutree \u201cto modernize distributed factory infrastructure and improve how AI models were delivered, managed, and observed across environments.\u201d<\/p>\n The Taiwanese giant has also used Neutree to \u201caccelerate model deployment, improve operational visibility, and build a scalable foundation for future AI and intelligent manufacturing workloads.\u201d<\/p>\n Foxconn considers AI a critical part of its plans: The Register last year heard<\/a> chairman Young Liu hail generative AI\u2019s potential to vastly improve the company\u2019s factories.<\/p>\n The Register asked Arcfra to detail its relationship with Foxconn and the HCI upstart pointed us to this case study<\/a> that states \u201cFoxconn’s global branch companies relied on traditional VMware virtualization for their IT systems. This legacy setup was becoming increasingly difficult to manage and scale across a distributed global footprint [and] led to high construction costs and a significant increase in operations and maintenance overhead.\u201d<\/p>\n Foxconn apparently deployed Arcfra \u201cacross its branch factories in Mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and North America\u201d and uses the Singaporean platform for critical intranet, manufacturing management, ERP and production line management systems. Arcfra also hosts Foxconn’s DevTest environments and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure workloads.<\/p>\n \u201cThe legacy VMware virtualization + SAN storage architecture was successfully replaced, providing a modern, scalable foundation ready to accommodate future business growth and technology adoption,\u201d Arcfra claims.<\/p>\n The Register asked Foxconn for further information about its decision, but has not received a response at the time of publication.<\/p>\n VMware\u2019s owner, Broadcom, changed strategy to target large entities like Foxconn. Broadcom says the overwhelming majority of its target customers have adopted its flagship Cloud Foundation suite, but The Register has also noted many big-name dissenters, among them Tesco, Western Union, Allstate Insurance \u2013 and now Foxconn.<\/p>\n Better news for Broadcom<\/p>\n In better news for Broadcom, the chip design side of the business has struck a $200 billion deal with Samsung\u2019s memory and foundry businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the memory front, Samsung and Broadcom plan to pursue a strategic collaboration for the supply of industry-leading memory solutions, including High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), supporting Broadcom\u2019s next-generation AI accelerators,\u201d states Samsung\u2019s announcement of the deal<\/a>. \u201cIn foundry, the companies\u2019 collaboration focuses on Samsung\u2019s 2-nanometer (nm) and below process technologies for Broadcom\u2019s products, including Wireless Broadband Communications (WBC) solutions. The collaboration is expected to extend to advanced packaging technologies built on Samsung\u2019s 2nm process, including 2.3D and 2.5D integration, to enable higher-performance and more power-efficient AI and networking silicon.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBy combining Samsung\u2019s memory and foundry expertise with Broadcom\u2019s AI and connectivity leadership, we aim to continue to deliver technologies that power the next generation of AI infrastructure,\u201d said Charlie Kawwas, the president of Broadcom\u2019s Semiconductor Solutions Group.<\/p>\n Broadcom has a huge order book for custom accelerators and needs foundry capacity to build those products and its other offerings. Given the global shortage of fabrication capacity, and Samsung\u2019s status as arguably the world\u2019s second-most-sophisticated fab operator, Broadcom has every reason to be happy it has secured access to the manufacturing resources it needs.<\/p>\n Infosys names next CEO<\/p>\n Indian tech services giant Infosys last week named Ashiss Kumar Dash as its next CEO.<\/p>\n Infosys says Dash is currently \u201cglobal head for a business portfolio that comprises over 12 industry verticals.\u201d<\/p>\n He will replace current Managing Director and CEO Salil Parekh on April 1, 2027. Parekh led the company for nine years.<\/p>\n The change is an orderly handover rather than a vote of no confidence in Parekh, although Infosys last week posted<\/a> [PDF] its Q1 results which included a forecast of revenue growth of between 1.5 and 3 percent, down from previous guidance of possible 3.5 percent growth for the full financial year.<\/p>\n The company said its previous guidance assumed an economic upswing that hasn\u2019t happened.<\/p>\n India orders takedown for Jack Dorsey\u2019s Bluetooth social network<\/p>\n Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has used the renamed platform to share<\/a> an order from the government of India that requires GitHub to take down BitChat \u2013 the decentralized peer-to-peer messaging app that can use Bluetooth mesh networks for offline communication.<\/p>\n The order Dorsey shared justifies the takedown request on grounds that India’s government has powers to compel communications services providers to cease service to prevent public disorder, riots, or terrorism, but that authorities can\u2019t act against decentralized messaging infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government of India does not like technologies like BitChat and wants it taken down,\u201d Dorsey wrote.<\/p>\n India is currently experiencing ongoing protests by youth and students upset by the cancellation of a medical studies entrance exam<\/a>, which they say is emblematic of the government’s disinterest in their needs. India’s education minister Dharmendra Pradhan stepped down over the weekend, a move seen as a win for protestors and a rare concession by India’s government.<\/p>\n Effectively banning BitChat, which could easily be used to enable mass protests, suggests New Delhi remains intent on preventing protests.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n At the time of writing, The Register was able to access the BitChat repo from Australia.<\/p>\n China fines Trip.com operator $770m for monopoly practices<\/p>\n