Technology giant Foxconn's plant in Shanxi province has launched a massive recruitment drive for an additional 20,000 workers to meet orders for next-generation smartphones.

The company's industrial park in Taiyuan, Shanxi's capital, currently has a workforce of 51,000. The extra workers are needed for new production lines in which it has invested 3.2 billion yuan ($520 million), said a human resources executive who declined to be named.

He said the company has to recruit as many workers as possible because production is expected to continue expanding until 2016.