Foxconn is the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics. (EPA Images pic) TAIPEI: Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn reported a forecast-beating net profit for the third quarter on Thursday, as the global buildout of data centres fuels demand for the artificial intelligence servers needed to operate them.

Foxconn, the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer, has gone beyond making low-margin iPhones to producing AI servers for US tech titan Nvidia, as well as electric vehicles and robots.

Its shares and those of other tech firms plunged last week on fears that US Democrats could use their newly won control of Congress to ramp up regulation of AI and slow the data centre expansion.