Taiwan's UMC has said it will invest $8 billion in a 12-inch wafer plant in Taiwan.

It looks like the outfit will be chucking a lot of dosh at high-end technology to meet demand for chips in fast-growing markets like mobile devices. UMC held a ground-breaking ceremony for phase 5 and 6 production plants at its 12-inch wafer fab in Tainan, southern Taiwan, on today, with a schedule to install machines at the plant in the second half of 2013. The company said it also plans to build phases 7 and 8.

UMC will join TSMC, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix who have been investing heavily to try and get a bigger share of the mobile market. TSMC has invested more than $11.9 billion in advanced production technology at its Tainan plant over the coming years. UMC said in May that it saw wafer shipments up 15 percent in the second quarter due to increasing orders on communication products and consumer electronics.