Texas Instruments has established its first manufacturing plant in Chengdu, Sichuan province, according to China Knowledge. The US$275m plant will produce analogue chips and will cover an initial area of 11,000 sq metres.

The US-based chip manufacturer currently operates in 16 Chinese cities.

Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group also plans to build a new plant in Chengdu, Reuters reported. A key supplier to the likes of Hewlett-Packard and Apple, Foxconn could invest as much as US$10bn in the plant, said one unidentified source.

The factory will initially employ at least 20,000 workers, with half of those already having received training in Foxconn’s existing hub in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

Foxconn’s LCD panel arm Chimei Innolux already owns a plant in Chengdu and is awaiting approval from the government to build a more advanced one, a second source said.