A chip complex under construction by Samsung Electronics in the Chinese city of Xian is expected to be fully operational by the end of this year, China Daily reported on Saturday. The report suggested that Samsung's US$7 billion project to build its first overseas plant for NAND flash memory chips is on schedule for completion.

Samsung will also invest $500 million in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, to set up a packaging and testing facility for flash memory chips and solid-state disks, according to the report.

Kwon Oh-hyun, Samsung Electronics' chief executive officer and vice-chairman, said the new project will help the company build a complete industrial chain in Xi'an, covering areas ranging from the production of memory chips to hard disk manufacturing.

The total floor area of the new facility will be 70,000 square meters. Construction is expected to start in January 2014, and the factory will be completed by the end of next year, according to An Jianli, director of the administration committee of the Xi'an Hi-tech Industry Development Zone.

Meanwhile, also on Thursday, Samsung Electronics' new R&D and data centers were put into operation in the development zone.

The two facilities will mainly conduct R&D activities related to software for mobile phones, smart televisions and semiconductors, as well as for cloud computing and medical projects.