SK hynix invests 54 trillion won in fabs

SK Hynix, a South Korean semiconductor manufacturer, announced on August 7, 2026, that its board approved a capital expenditure of approximately 54 trillion won (USD 39.42 billion) to build new fabrication plants in Yongin and Cheongju, South Korea. The investment allocates 35.2 trillion won (USD 25.70 billion) for the Yongin Y2 DRAM facility and 19.1 trillion won (USD 13.94 billion) for the Cheongju M17 NAND facility. This decision executes a mid-to-long-term manufacturing blueprint announced in June, which outlines a broader 600 trillion won commitment to the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster and 100 trillion won for the Cheongju production center. The Y2 fab, covering approximately 1.13 million square meters, will produce high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and next-generation DRAM chips, with groundbreaking scheduled for July 2027 and cleanroom operations expected in June 2029. The M17 fab, covering about 680,000 square meters, will produce NAND for enterprise SSDs and AI storage, with construction starting in February 2027 and cleanroom operations targeted for December 2028. SK Hynix views this expansion as a structural shift driven by AI demand, aiming to secure production capacity to become a key partner in the global AI semiconductor supply chain. The company cited Omdia data projecting a 19% compound annual growth rate for memory demand through 2030.