Japan Display plans to build a plant to supply smartphone screens for Apple, which may shoulder much of the 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion) investment, Japanese media said on Friday. The plant would make panels for Apple's iPhones, the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun and Jiji news wire reported.

Japan Display did not confirm the report but said it was constantly pursuing opportunities to strengthen its competitiveness, including building a new plant.

The proposed plant in Ishikawa, central Japan, would start operations in 2016 and is expected to produce panels mainly for Apple but also for other companies, the newspaper said without disclosing its sources.

Japan Display was formed in a government-backed deal in 2012 from the ailing display units of Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi.