Taiwanese chipmaker United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) said Thursday it will enter into a joint venture with China's Xiamen municipal government and state-owned Fujian Electronics and Information Group. The companies plan to build a semiconductor fabrication facility in Xiamen, Fujian Province.

last August, UMC said it would also inject 5 billion yen ($48 million) into a Fujitsu Semiconductor subsidiary that controls a Japanese plant for 12-inch wafers, in exchange for a 9% stake. Now UMC and its Chinese partners intend to construct a new plant for 12-inch wafers and 44- to 50-nanometer chips.

UMC said it would pour a total of $1.35 billion into the joint venture with the Xiamen government and Fujian Electronics over a span of five years, starting in 2015.

UMC's stake in the joint venture is expected to reach 30% in 2016, and that the new plant is expected to begin production in the fourth quarter of that year.