Foxconn makes $63M investment in cloud computing centers

Proving that cloud computing is more than a here-today-gone-tomorrow fad, Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, will spend $63.3 million over the next five years to construct two cloud computing buildings.

Foxconn, which is best known in the U.S. as the maker of key parts for Apple’s iPhone and iPad, will start building its cloud complex on a 4.57-acre lot at Kaohsiung Software Park in southern Taiwan beginning December 1, according to a Digitimes report that cites sources familiar with the company’s plans.

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The cloud complex will employ 3,000 software engineers and house three centers: “a cloud computing center to be equipped with an internally developed container data center; a software development center focusing on cloud computing, digital content, security monitoring, and environmental protection; and a technological innovation incubation center,” Digitimes reported.

The pricey investment highlights just how significant cloud infrastructure and applications could be to the next wave on Internet innovation.

“The market opportunity is enormous,” Dan Schnolnick, general partner at Trinity Ventures, told VentureBeat in a recent interview on the relatively untapped market of cloud technologies.

And if the “cloud,” an ambiguous term often used interchangeably to mean a variety of things, is a concept you’ve not yet mastered, fret not. VentureBeat’s Sean Ludwig breaks down the term and dissects what cloud computing means for the industry in this handy Cloud 101 guide.

[via Thing_]

[Image via Flickr/foto.bulle]

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