Samsung Electronics said on Monday that it will issue foreign bonds worth $1 billion to raise money for operating its semiconductor line in Austin, Texas.

The technology giant confirmed that it plans to issue bonds in the global markets for the management of the firm’s System Large Scale Integrated Circuit line in the United States.

“However, the time of bond issuance and its exact scale are yet to be unveiled,” said a Samsung official.

It is the first time since the 1997 financial crisis that Samsung Electronics has attempted to obtain funding overseas. Samsung America, not the Korean headquarters, will reportedly take charge of the publishing of the foreign bonds.

This comes at a time when the growth rate of the system semiconductor sector is expected to reach 5.8 percent in 2014, whereas the growth rate for memory semiconductors remains at a mere 1.3 percent.

With such figures in mind, Samsung has invested heavily in the sector, recording 11 trillion won ($9.5 billion) in total sales last year, up 60 percent from 2010. The company also was ranked fourth internationally in the field.

The system semiconductor line in Austin was taken into full operation in late October, which is five months after products were first shipped. The Austin factory is capable of producing 40,000 wafers every month and the system semiconductor chips manufactured at the plant plays the brain role of IT products.

On a related front, the flagship electronics arm of the country’s biggest conglomerate has two manufacturing lines for memory and non-memory semiconductors in Korea ― one in Giheung and the other in Hwaseong, both Gyeonggi Province ― along with an assembly line in Onyang.

Overseas, it has established a System LSI line in Austin and another assembly line in China.

Earlier this month, the firm was granted state permission to build another factory in China. It is also considering the construction of an additional semiconductor factory in the country in the long term.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)