Samsung launched yesterday the construction of a new chip plant to help fuel growth as smartphone sales slow, saying it would invest 15.6 trillion won ($14.3 billion) until production begins in 2017. The South Korean electronics giant, which has seen a surge in demand for chips, broke ground on the new plant in the city of Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul. Production at the 2.89 million-square-meter plant will begin in the latter half of 2017, Samsung said in a statement. The investment of $14.3 billion is the largest amount the firm has ever committed to a single plant, it added. Samsung's chip making unit - the world's second-largest after Intel - has helped cushion a recent slump in the firm's smartphone business.