Apple supplier Foxconn has signed a $300 million (roughly Rs. 2,400 crore) memorandum of understanding with Vietnamese developer Kinh Bac City to expand its facility in the north of the country to diversify and boost production, state media said on Saturday. The Taiwanese company’s new factory, on a plot of 50.5 hectares (125 acres) in Bac Giang province, will generate 30,000 local jobs, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said. Foxconn, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry, and Kinh Bac City did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Foxconn, which has been in Bac Giang for 15 years, has moved part of its iPad and AirPods production to Bac Giang’s Quang Chau Industrial Park, Tuoi Tre reported. It did not say which type of products would be produced at the new factory or its capacity.

The Vietnamese government said last year Foxconn had invested $1.5 billion (roughly Rs. 12,000 crore) in the Southeast Asian country.

A recent report had stated that Apple’s suppliers are in talks to produce Apple Watch and MacBook in Vietnam for the first time, Nikkei Asia reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Apple’s Chinese suppliers Luxshare Precision Industry and iPhone assembler Foxconn have started test production of Apple Watch and MacBook in Northern Vietnam, the report added.

Apple has been shifting some areas of iPhone production from China to other markets, including India, where it started manufacturing iPhone 13 this year, and is also planning to assemble iPad tablets.

Apple iPad With Larger Screen, iPad Pro With M2 Chip Could Launch in October India, the world’s second-biggest smartphone market, along with countries such as Mexico and Vietnam are becoming increasingly important to contract manufacturers supplying American brands, as they try to diversify production away from China.