Samsung Electronics announced Wednesday the company had broken ground for a second memory chip fabrication line in Xian, Shaanxi Province of China, investing a total of $7 billion for the next two years.

The second line, slated for completion next year, will be used for manufacturing Samsung’s premium V-NAND flash memory chips, a strategic move in response to growing demand for NAND chips, especially in the Chinese IT market, the company said.

“By producing the world’s best memory products here in Xian, Samsung will continue contributing to the growth of the global IT market,” said Kim Ki-nam, CEO of Samsung Electronics device solutions business, at a ceremony in Xian. 

Samsung has been manufacturing V-NAND chips at the first fabrication line in Xian since 2014.

“Investing in China where global mobile and IT businesses are concentrated, Samsung will continue making investments to raise chip manufacturing competitiveness in the Chinese market,” a company official said.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)