SK Hynix to invest 54 trillion won building two new memory chip plants

Published Aug 7, 08:40 AM UTC

SK Hynix announced on Friday a 54 trillion Korean won ($38.1 billion) investment to build two new memory chip manufacturing plants in South Korea, responding to surging demand driven by AI infrastructure and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) shortages. The Yongin facility, called 'Y2,' will focus on DRAM production, including HBM and next-generation DRAM, with groundbreaking in July 2027 and first cleanroom opening in June 2029. The Cheongju facility, 'M17,' will produce NAND memory, breaking ground in February 2027 and opening its first cleanroom in December 2028. Memory prices have surged due to supply-demand imbalance, boosting shares of major producers SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron. The investment is part of SK Hynix's larger master plan involving 600 trillion won in the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster and 100 trillion won in Cheongju.