Foxconn Technology Group, best known for assembling Apple's iPhones, will decide by year-end whether to branch off into unconventional territory: making solar panels in China.

It is an industry plagued by overcapacity that outstrips demand, and panel prices have tumbled by more than two-thirds in the past two years. Yet some analysts say Foxconn may end up timing it right, ready to make a move just as the sector shows some signs of stabilising.

Foxconn, the trading name of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, has been testing the market for two years but has revealed little about its Fox Energy solar unit. The company has one small solar panel factory in eastern China, and has also held talks with the southwestern province of Guangxi about building solar power plants. – (Reuters)