Intel Corp's new US$2.5 billion chip plant, the most advanced semiconductor facility in the Chinese mainland, started production in Dalian in Liaoning Province yesterday.

The plant, Intel's first wafer fabrication facility in Asia, marked the largest high-tech single investment in China and is expected to boost the domestic semiconductor and information technology industry, according to industry insiders.

Intel's plant, which covers 163,000 square meters or as big as 23 football fields, brings the world's biggest chip maker's investment in China to US$4.7 billion and completes the chip giant's industry chain in the country.

Intel adopts 65-nanometer technology at the plant, one generation more advanced than envisaged in the original plan released when the plant broke ground in 2007.

"It's a milestone for China and the United States in the high-tech industry. It's also a part of the national plan to develop strategic industries and support the development of the (country's) northeastern region," Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top planner, said.

The Intel plant is expected to boost the country's semiconductor industry revenue and develop the domestic IT sector because integrated circuit is core and fundamental to the industry, Zhou Zixue, chief economist of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said.

Initial production of the plant includes chipsets for laptops, high-performance desktop PCs and Intel Xeon servers.

"We are excited to extend the commitment in China by bringing the new plant as a new engine for innovation," said Paul Otellini, Intel's president and chief executive. "This facility helps deliver our vision to grow in China and serve our customers in Asia."

In the first half of the year, revenue in China's IC industry was 66.60 billion yuan (US$9.79 billion), an annual 45.1 percent growth, said the China Semiconductor Industry Association.