SK Hynix to invest $38 billion building new memory chip plants
SK Hynix plans to invest $38.1 billion to build two new memory chip plants in South Korea to meet rising demand for AI-related hardware. The facilities are expected to begin production by 2029 to support the growing need for high-bandwidth memory.
Why it matters
Massive capital expenditure in semiconductor manufacturing is critical for the global AI infrastructure supply chain and long-term memory market stability.
SK Hynix said on Friday it will invest 54 trillion Korean won ($38.1 billion) to build two new memory chip manufacturing plants, as demand for the components, which are key to AI, continues to grow.
The South Korean tech giant announced a 35.2 trillion won investment in a fabrication plant, or fab, in Yongin called "Y2," with 19.1 trillion won earmarked for a facility in Cheongju called "M17."
It comes amid a surge in memory prices driven by a shortage of supply and huge demand from companies building AI infrastructure like data centers and chip firms such as Nvidia, which require large amounts of high-bandwidth memory (HBM).
The surge in memory prices has led to the biggest producers of the product — SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron — seeing a massive rally in their share prices as investors bet the supply imbalance will persist for some time.
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