U.S. chip giant Intel Corp. began on Saturday to build its first chip plant in Asia, which involves 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in the first stage investment.

Intel Chairman Craig Barrett attended the ground breaking ceremony of the plant located in the Dalian Economic and Technological Development Zone in northeast China.

The project, which was announced in March this year, is part of Intel's network of eight chip facilities worldwide. The plant will go into production in 2010.