One of Apple Inc.'s major suppliers, Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, said on Wednesday it has placed a hiring freeze on its largest plant in Shenzhen.

Foxconn spokesman Louis Woo said the company is not hiring at the facility, citing the high rate of workers returning to the plant after celebrating the Chinese New Year.

Woo denied a Financial Times report that Foxconn had imposed a hiring freeze across most of its factories in China as it slows production of Apple's iPhone 5.

The newspaper quoted a Foxconn spokesman, Liu Kun, as saying, "Currently, none of the plants in mainland China have hiring plans."

Foxconn, Apple's largest manufacturing partner, also makes products for Dell Inc., Sony Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., among others.