TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker, is expected to report on Friday that fourth-quarter profit rose 2.35% on strong demand for artificial intelligence servers.

Net profit for October-December for Apple's ( AAPL ) top iPhone assembler and Nvidia's ( NVDA ) AI server maker likely came in at T$54.4 billion ($1.65 billion), according to an LSEG consensus estimate of 15 analysts, versus T$53.15 billion a year earlier.

Foxconn said in January its fourth-quarter revenue jumped 15.2% to a record for that quarter on strong sales of AI servers.

The company, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry ( HNHPF ), has said it expects first-quarter performance to be better than the average level of the past five years, and it will see strong year-over-year growth. It does not provide numerical guidance.

But an escalating global trade war has dimmed the prospects for its outlook this year, as it has a major manufacturing presence in China and Mexico, two of the top U.S. trading partners that now face increased import tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Apple ( AAPL ) said last month it will work with Foxconn to build a 250,000-square-foot (23,200-square-metre) facility in Houston, where it will assemble servers that go into data centres to power Apple Intelligence.

Foxconn holds its earnings call at 3 p.m. in Taipei (0700GMT) on Friday, where it will also update its outlook for the rest of the year.

Foxconn's shares have fallen 8.7% so far this year, hit by concerns about U.S. tariffs and trade policy.

($1 = 32.9550 Taiwan dollars)

(Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee, Yimou Lee and Faith Hung; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)