Asia Tech Wire (Sep 25) -- Foxconn is evaluating an investment of about $1 billion to set up a smartphone display module assembly plant in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, according to The Economic Times.

This will be the first such plant that Foxconn will set up in India, with plans to supply mainly Apple iPhones.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report said Foxconn's model would be such that even other contract manufacturers -- such as Pegatron or Tata Electronics -- would be able to use components from the plant without having to use modules assembled in China .

The people also mentioned that although there is no fixed timeframe, the company hopes that the plant will be operational as soon as possible.