Foxconn drops VMware, adopts hyperconverged upstart Arcrfra for workloads including AI

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. Arcfra launched in 2024 and the next year earned a place on analyst firm Gartner's Market Guide for Full-Stack HCI Software. Last week, Arcfra launched 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 to modernize distributed factory infrastructure and improve how AI models were delivered, managed, and observed across environments." The Taiwanese giant has also used Neutree to accelerate model deployment, improve operational visibility, and build a scalable foundation for future AI and intelligent manufacturing workloads." Foxconn considers AI a critical part of its plans: The Register last year heard chairman Young Liu hail generative AI's potential to vastly improve the company's factories. The Register asked Arcfra to detail its relationship with Foxconn and the HCI upstart pointed us to this case study that states Foxconn'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." Foxconn apparently deployed Arcfra across its branch factories in Mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and North America" 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. The legacy VMware virtualization + SAN storage architecture was successfully replaced, providing a modern, scalable foundation ready to accommodate future business growth and technology adoption," Arcfra claims. The Register asked Foxconn for further information about its decision, but has not received a response at the time of publication. VMware's 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 - and now Foxconn. Better news for Broadcom In better news for Broadcom, the chip design side of the business has struck a $200 billion deal with Samsung's memory and foundry businesses. On 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's next-generation AI accelerators," states Samsung's announcement of the deal. In foundry, the companies' collaboration focuses on Samsung's 2-nanometer (nm) and below process technologies for Broadcom's products, including Wireless Broadband Communications (WBC) solutions. The collaboration is expected to extend to advanced packaging technologies built on Samsung's 2nm process, including 2.3D and 2.5D integration, to enable higher-performance and more power-efficient AI and networking silicon." By combining Samsung's memory and foundry expertise with Broadcom's AI and connectivity leadership, we aim to continue to deliver technologies that power the next generation of AI infrastructure," said Charlie Kawwas, the president of Broadcom's Semiconductor Solutions Group. 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's status as arguably the world's second-most-sophisticated fab operator, Broadcom has every reason to be happy it has secured access to the manufacturing resources it needs. Infosys names next CEO Indian tech services giant Infosys last week named Ashiss Kumar Dash as its next CEO. Infosys says Dash is currently global head for a business portfolio that comprises over 12 industry verticals." He will replace current Managing Director and CEO Salil Parekh on April 1, 2027. Parekh led the company for nine years. The change is an orderly handover rather than a vote of no confidence in Parekh, although Infosys last week posted [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. The company said its previous guidance assumed an economic upswing that hasn't happened. India orders takedown for Jack Dorsey's Bluetooth social network Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has used the renamed platform to share an order from the government of India that requires GitHub to take down BitChat - the decentralized peer-to-peer messaging app that can use Bluetooth mesh networks for offline communication. 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't act against decentralized messaging infrastructure. The government of India does not like technologies like BitChat and wants it taken down," Dorsey wrote. India is currently experiencing ongoing protests by youth and students upset by the cancellation of a medical studies entrance exam, 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. Effectively banning BitChat, which could easily be used to enable mass protests, suggests New Delhi remains intent on preventing protests. At the time of writing, The Register was able to access the BitChat repo from Australia. China fines Trip.com operator $770m for monopoly practices China's State Administration for Market Regulation on Saturday announced it has fined the Trip.com Group $770 million for monopolistic practices. Beijing went after Trip.com for the behavior of its Ctrip brand, which targets Chinese-speaking customers. The regulator alleged that Ctrip forced hotel merchants to accept exclusive cooperation agreements and manipulated hotel prices through technological means, thus exacerbating the industry's involutionary' competition." The fine may interest regulators around the world, because Trip.com and its sub-brand Skyscanner are popular outside China. (R)