Taiwan’s Foxconn – the manufacturer of the Apple iPhone and other high-profile devices – is reportedly poised to invest billions of dollars to expand its operations into Brazil. According to a Bloomberg report, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Foxconn could spend as much as US$12 billion over the next five to six years to expand production in the country, in what would be the Taiwanese company’s biggest investment overseas. Foxconn spokesperson Louis Woo said the firm is giving “serious consideration” to further invest in the South American country but has yet to decide on details. Foxconn currently employs 1 million people in China, mainly at its manufacturing base in the southern city of Shenzhen, but wages are climbing, prompting the firm to look at alternatives.

Foxconn already has a Brazilian base where it assembles devices such as notebooks for Hewlett Packard. It is thought that the expansion of this facility and others in the country could create 100,000 jobs in South America’s largest economy. Bloomberg notes that the country is already a manufacturing base for the likes of LG and Motorola, the latter building its Xoom tablet devices in Sao Paulo. Dow Jones Newswires reports separately today that China’s ZTE has also recently signed an agreement to build a new facility in Brazil.