Reportedly, the newspaper said the Taiwanese suitor is expected to spend US$1.67 billion to buy part of Sharp’s LCD business, while mulling the possibility of having Apple as a partner in the buy out deal.

However, Sharp is under rising pressure to find an investor for its flat-panel business after the Japanese company last week said its financial results in the current period would fall short of expectations.

Regarding a quarterly earnings report ending at the end of June, Sharp said that it incurred 33.98 billion yen in losses, jumping from a loss of 1.79 billion in losses recorded over the same period of last year.

Foxconn and Sharp both declined to comment on the report.

Moreover, Tie-up talks between the two companies fell through in 2012 after the Japanese company baulked at demands that it said would have given the Taiwanese company too much control.