(Reuters) -Taiwan's Foxconn is pausing its interest in Nissan Motor ( NSANF ) as the Japanese automaker explores a potential merger with Honda Motor ( HMC ), Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Foxconn's decision comes after it sent a delegation to meet with Nissan's ( NSANF ) biggest shareholder Renault in France, the report said.

Nissan ( NSANF ), Foxconn and Renault did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Reuters this week reported that Foxconn, which manufactures Apple's iPhones, had approached Nissan ( NSANF ) about a bid, but the Japanese firm rejected it.

Foxconn has not given up completely on a bid for Nissan ( NSANF ), Bloomberg News said, adding that the Taiwanese company prefers to see if the two Japanese auto giants make legitimate progress towards a deal before deciding on its next move.

A Honda-Nissan merger would create a $54 billion company producing 7.4 million vehicles annually, ranking as the world's third-largest automaker by sales, after Toyota and Volkswagen.

(Reporting by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan)