The wage increase comes as a spate of suicide among workers in Foxconn's largest plant and a strike at a Honda factory in China have triggered calls for better conditions for the tens of millions of migrant workers who have been powering China's export-manufacturing machine.

"The monthly wage for all first-line employees and their line leaders and supervisors in Shenzhen will be elevated to RMB 2,000 as early as October 1 2010," if the workers successfully passed a three-month evaluation period, the company said.

Following a 30 percent wage increase from July 1, the group said workers who reach certain performance standards would now also get an additional 66 percent pay rise from October 1.

Foxconn, the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer, is revamping the pay structure at its main production base in southern China in a move that could end up the cost structure of global electronics production.

Foxconn's decision is the clearest sign yet of major changes in the labor conditions in export manufacturing in China.

Foxconn executives said they could not predict how the additional cost would be shared but expected customers to help shoulder the burden.

Foxconn, which makes electronic gadgets such as iPhones and PlayStation video game consoles, is China's largest employer with a headcount of 800,000, and has been the country's largest exporter every year since 2003.

The increase exceeds the demands of some labor activists who had rejected Foxconn's earlier 30 per cent pay rise as too little too late.

The latest increase would more than double the basic pay of assembly line workers in Shenzhen and bring it to a level they currently only reach by working 12-hour shifts six days a week.

Activists said the group needed to increase pay by at least 50 per cent to give workers a decent income without massive overtime.