Mike Snider

USA TODAY

Taiwan electronics maker Foxconn may build a display-manufacturing plant in the U.S., the value of which could exceed $7 billion.

The world's largest contract device maker -- one of its best-known partners is Apple, for whom it assembles iPhones -- had been mulling the project, Foxconn CEO Terry Gou said Sunday.

Foxconn would build the display plant with Sharp, the tech display company it acquired last year. The company's commitment to do the deal would depend on investment conditions, Gou told reporters from Reuters and other outlets while speaking at a company event.

There had been previous hints that Foxconn was looking at a U.S. expansion. Last month, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son pledged a $50 billion investment in the U.S. to then-President-elect Donald Trump. As part of the information, Son disclosed Foxconn's participation with a $7 billion investment of its own.

During the presidential campaign, Trump warned he would try to force Apple into manufacturing its iPhones and iPads in the U.S.

Gou had talked to Son prior to the Softbank CEO's meeting with Trump and told him that a U.S. display plant could create 30,000 to 50,000 jobs, he said Sunday. "I thought it was a private conversation, but then the next morning it was exposed," he said. "There is such a plan, but it is not a promise. It is a wish."

Back in November, the financial magazine Nikkei Asian Review reported that Apple had asked Foxconn and another Asian-based manufacturer Pegatron to explore possibly manufacturing iPhones in the U.S.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.