Cree Inc., a leading provider of LED lighting, will double its chip production capacity next year to meet strong worldwide growth, the China Daily reports, citing a top executive of the company.

The company Monday (Nov.9) signed an agreement with the local government of Huizhou in China, to build the world's largest manufacturing plant, with a floor area of 55,000 sqm, for LED chips. The company would further expand production capacity depending on market performance, said Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO.

China is already the largest market for Cree, with a controlling share of 38 percent, according to the report. The company will continue to invest heavily in China, Swoboda said, adding that the company's total invesment of $165 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year will mainly go to the US and China.

China's semiconductor lighting industry was worth nearly 70 billion yuan($10.29 billion) in 2008, of which chip production was valued at just 1.9 billion yuan, or less than 3 percent, but the application market generated 45 billion yuan, according to the report. The global financial crisis has failed to cool the fast-growing industry, with annual growth surpassing 50 percent year-on-year since 2007 and touching 53.3 percent in 2008. Around half of the 2,000 LED production and research entities across the country are located in the Pearl River Delta area.