Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer and a key assembler of artificial intelligence servers for Nvidia, announced that it will begin deploying humanoid robots at its Houston, Texas, facility — a move that underscores the rapid acceleration of automation and the deepening partnership between the two tech giants.

The company, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd, said the robots will be powered by Nvidia’s Isaac GR00T N model, a cutting-edge AI platform designed to train and operate humanoid robots capable of handling complex factory tasks. The project, which aims to make the Houston plant a benchmark for AI-powered smart manufacturing, will mark one of the most advanced deployments of humanoid robotics in industrial production when it launches in the first quarter of 2026.

“The factory will also be among the first to deploy humanoid robots powered by the NVIDIA Isaac GR00T N model on its production lines, as Foxconn and Nvidia aim to build a world-leading benchmark AI smart factory,” the company said in a statement released during Nvidia’s developers’ conference in Washington, D.C.

Foxconn Chairman Young Liu said the move reflects the company’s ambition to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving AI manufacturing industry.

“Our team is bringing the most advanced AI data center solutions to the United States, which will help our leading customers stay ahead in the AI race,” Liu said.

Beyond Houston, Foxconn said it would scale up AI server production in Texas, Wisconsin, and California, noting that demand for AI infrastructure has continued to soar as companies around the world race to build and train generative AI models.

The Rise of Humanoid Robotics

Humanoid robots, machines that mimic human motion and function, have long been viewed as the next frontier in the AI revolution, promising to redefine the boundaries of labor, manufacturing, and daily life. Industry leaders have increasingly touted them as a major growth engine for the coming decade.

Among the most vocal proponents is Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has repeatedly said that his company’s humanoid robot, Optimus, could one day be worth far more than its electric vehicle business. Tesla board, as part of its $1 trillion pay package proposal for Musk, recently projected that Optimus could drive Tesla’s market value to $8.5 trillion by 2035, largely through its ability to automate labor-intensive tasks in factories, logistics, and households.

Tesla’s Optimus, unveiled in prototype form in 2022, is expected to enter limited production in the coming years, and Musk has hinted that millions could eventually be built.

That optimism is mirrored by investors like Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, who said this week that humanoid robots could become the largest embodiment of artificial intelligence, predicting that embodied AI will transform industries from transportation and manufacturing to healthcare.

Foxconn and Nvidia’s Expanding Collaboration

Foxconn’s partnership with Nvidia extends far beyond robotics. The Taiwanese manufacturer is one of Nvidia’s key production partners for AI servers and data center hardware — the backbone of global AI training infrastructure. Nvidia dominates the global AI chip market, and Foxconn’s integration of Nvidia’s robotic platform further deepens the collaboration between the two companies.

The Isaac GR00T N model that will power Foxconn’s humanoid robots is designed to enable real-time learning and coordination between machines. It provides simulation environments where robots can “train” virtually before executing tasks in real-world settings — allowing factories to accelerate automation safely and efficiently.

For Nvidia, the move marks another step in its broader strategy to bring AI beyond the data center and into the physical world through robotics. CEO Jensen Huang has repeatedly said that the fusion of AI, robotics, and computing will define the next industrial era, enabling machines that can learn, adapt, and collaborate with humans.

Foxconn’s Houston plant, already producing Nvidia’s AI servers, is expected to serve as a test bed for this new generation of robotics. If successful, it could become a model for how high-tech manufacturing evolves under the influence of artificial intelligence.

The company said its goal is to create a “world-leading AI smart factory”, blending automation with data-driven optimization to enhance efficiency and precision. Analysts say this could dramatically reduce production costs while improving consistency and safety.

Foxconn’s humanoid robotics push also aligns with its broader ambition to transform itself from a traditional electronics contract manufacturer into an AI-first technology conglomerate. Early this week, it announced a NT$42 billion ($1.37 billion) investment in a new AI compute cluster and supercomputing center in Taiwan, as part of efforts to expand its cloud services and smart platform ecosystem.

U.S. President Donald Trump took another swipe at Canada on Wednesday, reviving a tense trade dispute between Washington and Ottawa.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote shortly after landing in South Korea that, “For those that are asking, we didn’t come to South Korea to see Canada!”

The remark, which came as Trump arrived in Gyeongju for high-level talks with the presidents of South Korea and China, was widely viewed as a direct rebuke of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is also attending the same summit.

The U.S. president is expected to join Carney later on Wednesday at a formal dinner with other world leaders — an encounter that now takes on added tension following his latest public dismissal of Canada.

The renewed spat follows a string of policy clashes between the two allies, culminating last week when Trump announced that he was cutting off trade negotiations with Ottawa and imposing an additional 10% tariff on Canadian goods. The U.S. leader made the announcement after an Ontario political advertisement aired a clip of former Republican president Ronald Reagan saying that “tariffs cause trade wars and economic disaster.”

Trump had reacted angrily to the ad, calling it “an insult” and accusing Canada of “mocking American leadership” at a time when his administration is pursuing what he calls “fair trade for American workers.” He defended the new tariffs, arguing they were necessary to protect U.S. industries from unfair Canadian practices.

The latest move marked a significant deterioration in U.S.-Canada trade relations, which had already been strained since Trump took office. While the United States remains Canada’s largest trading partner, tensions over tariffs, energy policy, and manufacturing have repeatedly disrupted bilateral cooperation.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who assumed office earlier this year, has so far sought to de-escalate the standoff. Speaking on Monday, he said he was “ready to sit down for trade talks with President Trump as soon as the U.S. president is prepared to do so.” Carney added that Canada “remains committed to constructive dialogue” and emphasized the importance of maintaining “a rules-based trade system between trusted partners.”

Carney’s trip to Asia marks his first official overseas tour as prime minister, during which he is aiming to expand Canada’s trade and security partnerships in the region. His government has prioritized diversifying trade away from U.S. dependence — a move seen as both strategic and necessary amid recurring economic friction with Washington.

Later this week, Carney is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to explore potential economic and diplomatic cooperation between Beijing and Ottawa. The visit also includes discussions with South Korean officials on technology and renewable energy cooperation, reflecting Ottawa’s broader effort to secure new trade alliances.

However, Trump’s blunt statement on Truth Social underscores how deeply the once-close U.S.-Canada relationship has soured. It also highlights the president’s increasingly combative trade posture, which has extended beyond North America to include disputes with the European Union and China.

Trump’s aides have defended his stance despite mounting criticism, insisting that Canada has long benefited from “imbalanced trade arrangements” with the United States. The White House, however, has not issued an official statement clarifying Trump’s comments about Carney or whether any bilateral meeting between the two leaders will take place during the summit.

But the feud is seen as coming at a delicate moment, with both economies still contending with global inflation pressures and supply chain disruptions. Economists have warned that the new tariffs could have a ripple effect on industries closely linked across the U.S.-Canada border, including automotive, steel, and agriculture.

As Trump continues his Asia visit, his remarks have cast a shadow over what was expected to be a forum for unity among allies. Instead, his public snub of Canada has once again placed trade friction at the center of international diplomacy — reinforcing his long-held view that America’s allies must “pay their fair share” and “respect U.S. interests.”

OpenAI on Wednesday announced two new artificial intelligence reasoning models — gpt-oss-safeguard-120b and gpt-oss-safeguard-20b — designed to help developers detect and classify online safety harms on their platforms.

The models, introduced as open-weight systems, mark one of OpenAI’s most significant steps yet in improving transparency and safety across digital ecosystems increasingly shaped by generative AI.

According to the company, the models are fine-tuned versions of its gpt-oss family, first announced in August. Their numerical names reflect their size, with the 120-billion and 20-billion parameter variants offering different levels of computational power and precision. Both are built to enable developers to implement custom moderation frameworks or adapt the models to specific content policies.

Unlike open-source systems, where the full code is available for public modification, open-weight models make only their trained parameters accessible. This approach, OpenAI said, allows developers to study and deploy the systems while maintaining integrity over their design and operation.

These models can be configured to reflect an organization’s unique policy needs, because they are reasoning models that show their work, developers can gain clearer insight into how an output was produced — and why.

Practical Applications Across Platforms

The company illustrated several possible use cases for the new safeguard models. A product review site, for instance, could use them to automatically detect fake or manipulated reviews, improving the credibility of its listings. Likewise, a video game forum could deploy the models to classify or flag posts discussing cheating or game exploits.

The models are designed to reason through nuanced policy definitions rather than rely solely on keyword matching or predefined rule sets — a capability that could make moderation more context-aware and less error-prone.

The models were co-developed with Robust Open Online Safety Tools (ROOST), an organization that builds open frameworks for digital safety research. OpenAI said the collaboration with ROOST reflects its renewed focus on making AI safety tools accessible to the broader community, not just to major corporations or regulators.

ROOST was joined in testing by partners including Discord and SafetyKit, both of which provided feedback during the models’ pilot phase. The models are currently being released in research preview, and OpenAI said it will gather insights from safety experts and academic researchers before expanding access.

“As AI becomes more powerful, safety tools and fundamental safety research must evolve just as fast — and they must be accessible to everyone,” said Camille François, President of ROOST.

In tandem with the model release, ROOST is launching a model community for researchers and practitioners who work on using AI to secure online spaces. The group will focus on sharing best practices, developing open benchmarks, and identifying weaknesses in emerging AI systems.

The rollout of the safeguard models comes amid heightened scrutiny of OpenAI’s commercial growth and safety posture. The company, now valued at $500 billion, has faced criticism from some members of the research community who argue that it has expanded too rapidly without fully addressing ethical or security risks tied to powerful AI systems.

OpenAI is thus signaling a willingness to prioritize transparency and invite external oversight by making these safety models open-weight — a move analysts see as an attempt to rebuild trust among regulators and researchers.

OpenAI’s flagship product, ChatGPT, has become the most widely used AI chatbot globally, with more than 800 million weekly active users. The company’s scale has made its safety architecture a focal point of debate among policymakers and technology ethicists alike.

A New Chapter After Recapitalization

The announcement also follows OpenAI’s completion of a recapitalization process on Tuesday, which officially cemented its structure as a nonprofit-controlled organization with a majority stake in its for-profit arm.

The company, originally founded as a nonprofit research lab in 2015, has since transformed into the most valuable U.S. startup, driven largely by the success of ChatGPT and enterprise adoption of its GPT models.

OpenAI confirmed that eligible researchers and developers can download the model weights on Hugging Face, a leading AI repository and collaboration platform. The research preview phase will focus on gathering feedback from the online safety community, particularly around model interpretability, bias detection, and effectiveness across different languages and cultural contexts.

With the new safeguard models, OpenAI is effectively extending its AI portfolio into the domain of digital safety infrastructure, an area increasingly seen as critical to the responsible use of artificial intelligence.