Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will invest an additional US$8 billion into its second chip plant in Xi'an, China, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The facility, which will manufacture NAND flash chips, is expected to commence operations in the first half of 2020. NAND flash chips are found in mobile devices, memory cards, USB flash drives and solid-state drives.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang hinted at the additional investment in October when he said a total of US$15 billion will be spent on the company's second plant in Xi'an. Samsung in 2017 revealed plans to boost the capacity of its Xi'an facility with an investment of US$7 billion. The company's first plant in Xi'an has been running since 2014.

Early this year, the South Korean company also announced plans to spend 133 trillion won in its logic chip operations.

Samsung's chip investments come at a time when the memory market is expected to rebound in 2020 due to rising demand for 5G devices and networks, according to a Reuters report.

As of Dec. 12, US$1 was equivalent to 1,176.06 South Korean won.