Samsung Electronics is poised to start operating its new chip-making line in the country next month at the earliest, joining the race with local rival SK hynix Inc. to ramp up production. Samsung plans to begin the mass production of memory and non-memory chips at the new production line in Hwaseong, just south of Seoul, in the current quarter.

The new chip fab was completed last year after ground was broken in 2012. It is Samsung's newest production line, for which it will pour more than 15 trillion won ($12.5 billion) over the next two years, the largest amount for a single semiconductor plant by a Korean company.

Part of the new Hwasung production line has already been on a test run for the past few months, with the rest is expected to to be fully activated by the end of the year.

The new facility will most likely produce high-end dynamic random access memory chips, including the low power double data rate and DDR4. The tech giant also mulls churning out non-memory chips, also known as logic chips, that include application processors at the new facility.

On Tuesday, local archrival SK hynix Inc. unveiled a 46 trillion-won investment plan to build three new DRAM fabs by 2024.