Intel will hold a briefing Monday in Beijing, the US chip giant said Thursday, amid expectations that it is set to announce plans to build a huge semiconductor plant in China.

"Our CEO (Paul Otellini) will be there," said a Beijing-based Intel executive on Thursday.

Intel declined to provide details about the press conference, to be held in the Great Hall of the People, the parliamentary building in the middle of Beijing.

However, speculation was heating up following an announcement by the Chinese government earlier this month that it had given approval for an Intel plan to build a 2.5-billion-dollar semiconductor plant.

The 12-inch (300-millimetre) integrated wafer plant in Dalian city in northeast China's Liaoning province would have a monthly capacity of 52,000 chips, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a brief release.

Intel, which has invested about one billion dollars in China so far, already has major assembly and test operations in Shanghai and Chengdu, in the country's southwest.

At 90 nanometers, the chips made in Dalian would be some of the most advanced semiconductors manufactured in China.