SK Hynix Approves $38 Billion Investment to Build Two New Memory Chip Fabs in South Korea

SK Hynix approved a 54 trillion won ($38 billion) investment to build two new memory chip factories in South Korea to meet soaring AI demand. The company will spend 35.2 trillion won on the Y2 DRAM fab in Yongin, targeting a June 2029 cleanroom opening, and 19.1 trillion won on the M17 NAND fab in Cheongju, set to open in December 2028. This expansion supports an accelerated timeline to complete the Yongin cluster by 2033.

SK Hynix fab investment approval

• ▪The board of SK Hynix approved a combined investment of 54 trillion won (approximately $38 billion) on August 7, 2026 to build two new semiconductor manufacturing plants in South Korea.
• ▪The approved 54 trillion won investment is part of a broader mid- to long-term investment plan announced by SK Hynix in June, which includes spending 600 trillion won on the Yongin cluster and 100 trillion won in Cheongju.

AI memory demand growth

• ▪Market research firm Omdia projects that global demand for both DRAM and NAND memory will maintain a compound annual growth rate of 19% from last year through 2030.
• ▪Counterpoint Research analyst Neil Shah stated that memory prices are unlikely to soften before the end of 2028 due to demand growing faster than planned manufacturing capacity.

Yongin Y2 DRAM facility

• ▪SK Hynix allocated 35.2 trillion won (approximately $24.9 billion) to build the Y2 fab, which is the second of four planned semiconductor manufacturing plants within the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster.
• ▪The Yongin Y2 facility will span a total floor area of approximately 341,000 pyeong (1.13 million square meters) and will focus on producing next-generation DRAM, including high-bandwidth memory.

Cheongju M17 NAND facility

• ▪The Cheongju M17 facility will span a total floor area of approximately 206,000 pyeong (680,000 square meters) and will integrate with existing NAND production lines at the Cheongju campus.
• ▪SK Hynix allocated 19.1 trillion won (approximately $13.5 billion) to build the M17 fab in Cheongju, which will produce NAND flash memory to expand the supply of enterprise solid-state drives.

Cleanroom construction timelines

• ▪Construction of the Yongin Y2 fab is scheduled to begin in July next year, with its first cleanroom targeted to open in June 2029 and sequential investments running through October 2031.
• ▪Construction of the Cheongju M17 fab is scheduled to break ground in February next year, with its first cleanroom targeted to open in December 2028 and sequential investments running through April 2031.

Production capacity expansion strategy

• ▪SK Hynix has accelerated its target completion date for the entire Yongin Semiconductor Cluster by 12 years, moving the deadline from 2045 forward to 2033.
• ▪SK Hynix plans to construct the physical fab shells according to the master schedule, while expanding cleanrooms and installing equipment sequentially in line with customer demand trends to maximize capital efficiency.

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