Foxconn, Apple’s biggest assembly partner, is in the early stages of discussions to expand its U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. The company confirmed the news after a document displaying Foxconn’s logo was shown by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and SoftBank Group Corp.’s Masayoshi Son during the announcement of a $50 billion investment in the U.S. by the bank. While the page listed the figures “$7 billion in U.S.” and “50,000 new jobs in U.S.” on the same page as Foxconn’s logo, the company said “the scope of the potential investment has not been determined” in an official statement, adding, “Those plans would be made based on mutually-agreed terms.”
In June, Apple reportedly approached both of its major iPhone assemblers, Foxconn and Pegatron, asking them to look into creating U.S.-based assembly facilities. Foxconn agreed, but Chairman Terry Gou had been “less enthusiastic” about it, expecting the cost of producing an iPhone in the U.S. to more than double. Apple CEO Tim Cook had a conversation with Trump shortly after the election, during which the two talked about the president-elect’s hopes for bringing more manufacturing back to the U.S., but Cook didn’t commit to anything during the discussion. Most of Foxconn’s assembly operation is based in China, but the company is currently setting up a facility in India to help with Apple’s regulatory issues in that country.