In a major boost to China's IT sector, Intel Corporation on Monday announced plans to invest a whopping $2.5 billion to build a 300-mm wafer fabrication facility in the coastal northeast Chinese city of Dalian - the first of its kind in Asia.

The $2.5 billion investment for the factory designated 'Fab 68' in Liaoning Province will become Intel's first wafer fab in Asia and adds significant investment to Intel's existing operations in China, the company said in a press release on Monday.

"China is our fastest-growing major market, and we believe it's critical that we invest in markets that will provide for future growth to better serve our customers," Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini said.

"Fab 68 will be our first new wafer fab at a new site in 15 years. Intel has been involved in China for more than 22 years and over that time we've invested in excess of $1.3 billion in assembly test facilities and research and development. This new investment will bring our total to just under $4 billion, making Intel one of the largest foreign investors in China," Otellini said.

Not since 1992 with the construction of Fab 10 in Ireland has Intel built a fab from the ground up at a brand new site. Construction on Fab 68 is scheduled to begin later this year with production projected to begin in the first half of 2010.