Samsung announced plans to invest at least KRW37 trillion ($33 billion) in its memory chip production facilities in South Korea by 2021 and is reviewing plans to expand its capacity in China.

Under the new plan, the company will invest KRW30 trillion by 2021 in its Pyeongtaek line to expand its semiconductor fabrication capacity, and KRW6 trillion in its Hwaseong site for a chip fabrication line optimised to install state-of-the-art infrastructure, including extreme ultra-violet equipment.

It is reviewing plans to set up a second semiconductor production line in Xi’an, China, where it built its first line in 2014.

Samsung announced yesterday it started mass production of fourth-generation V-NAND at its new chip fabrication line in Pyeongtaek, an event celebrated by various executives (pictured).

With brisk sales of memory chips, the vendor is expected to report its best-ever quarterly profit for Q2 2017, moving it ahead of Intel as the largest semiconductor maker by revenue for the first time, Reuters said.

Samsung accounted for 40 per cent of global memory chip revenue in Q1 2017, according to TrendForce.

On the display side, the company is reviewing plans to set up a new OLED manufacturing site in Asan, South Korea, by 2018, with an investment of as much as KRW1 trillion.

Samsung Display accounts for more than 90 per cent of the market for OLED smartphone screens.

Samsung said the new investments could create 440,000 new jobs in South Korea by 2021, Reuters reported.

The company generally invests more than $10 billion annually in its chip production facilities.