Samsung's $7 billion vote of confidence

Groundbreaking on the new $7 billion Samsung Electronics NAND flash memory plant in Shaanxi province's capital Xi'an on Sept 12 heralded western China's biggest foreign investment and Samsung's largest in the country.

It is also the company's biggest overseas investment in chip manufacturing.

Xi'an beat out Beijing and Chongqing as home of the company's second semiconductor plant outside Korea. The IT giant built its first overseas plant in Austin, Texas 16 years ago.