Foxconn says Gou resigned due to 'personal reasons', and noted he had 'officially handed over leadership of the group to a professional manager four years ago'.

Gou stepped down as Foxconn chief in 2019 and made a presidential bid that year, but dropped out after losing the race to win the nomination for the KMT, which traditionally favours close ties with China.

Demand for smartphones assembled at Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant has helped Apple remain a bright spot in a technology sector battered by consumer spending cutbacks amid surging inflation and interest rates.

Rising numbers from outbreaks across China have prompted a tightening of curbs and lockdowns, including in parts of cities such as the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, as the economic toll of zero-Covid mounts.

Apple supplier Foxconn currently has about 200,000 workers at its Zhengzhou complex and has not disclosed the number of infected workers, but says that it will not stop workers from leaving.

The company, officially known as Hon Hai Precision, has told the Tamil Nadu state government it is working to address Apple's concerns over workers' living conditions.

Some 250 women working at Foxconn's iPhone factory in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu were treated for food poisoning this month, 159 of whom were hospitalised.

The unrest at Foxconn is the second such involving an Apple supplier factory in India in a year.

The world's largest contract electronics maker, Foxconn already plays a lynchpin role in assembling Apple's iPhones as well as gadgets for a myriad of top international brands.