Chinese media report that Samsung Electronics will increase investment at its chip factory in China by $8 billion to boost production of NAND flash memory chips.

The investment comes as the memory market is expected to rebound next year because of limited supplies and rising demand for fifth-generation devices and networks, according to the reports.

Samsung, the world’s largest maker of NAND flash memory chips, did not confirm the investment.

In 2017, the South Korean company announced that it would invest $7 billion over three years in its Xi’an plant that produces NAND flash memory chips. Previously, the company had invested $10.8 billion into a testing and packaging plant in Xi’an.

Local companies have been also trying to enter the memory sector, though none has been successful enough to compete with overseas rivals.

Some months ago, Yangtze Memory Technologies Company (YMTC) announced it would begin mass producing 64-layer 3D NAND chips, the benchmark for most leading industry players.

ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), previously known as Innotron Memory, earlier this month announced that it has started production of mainstream computer memory using a 19 nm manufacturing technology.