South Korea’s Samsung Electronics is to invest one billion dollars in a “state-of-the-art” microchip manufacturing facility in the Philippines, it was reported Friday.

The Manila Bulletin newspaper said the facility will be built on a 30-hectare (74-acre) site in the Clark Special Economic Zone near the former US airforce base north of Manila.

Quoting unnamed sources, the paper said “it will be a state-of-the-art” facility with construction starting “within the year.”

At present, Samsung has two operations in the country, Samsung Electronics Philippines Manufacturing Corp. and Samsung Electronics Philippines Corp.

The entry of Samsung in Clark will boost the zone as a hub for electronics chipmaking, an unnamed official said.

“This means the country can move upstream to design and manufacturing, as opposed to the low value-added testing and packaging operations,” the official said.

“People at Clark have been in touch with Samsung. They have been talking, exploring possibilities. There is encouraging progress,” Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila told Dow Jones Newswires in a phone interview.

Favila said he is still awaiting a full report on the matter, declining to give details of the planned investment.

“Samsung Electronics is exploring various investment opportunities in Southeast Asian countries, but no decision has been made,” company spokeswoman Lee Eun-Hee said.

This possible development comes a year after U.S.-based semiconductor firm Texas Instruments Inc. formalised plans to invest around one billion dollars over 10 years in a new test and assembly facility in the Philippines.