SK Hynix approves $38 billion investment in two new semiconductor fabrication plants

SK Hynix, the world's largest supplier of HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), approved the construction of two new semiconductor fabrication plants with an investment of 54 trillion South Korean won, approximately $38.3 billion, as part of a broader $430 billion plan to expand manufacturing capacity. The first facility, Yongin Y2, will cost $25 billion and be dedicated exclusively to DRAM and HBM memory production, critical components for graphics cards that store artificial intelligence models. Construction will begin in July 2027, with the first cleanroom expected to be operational in June 2029. The second plant will produce NAND flash using the newly developed HBF technology, which stacks circuits in multiple layers similar to HBM. SK Hynix recently launched its most advanced HBM generation, a 12-layer chip based on the HBM4 standard, offering double the bandwidth compared to previous generations. Samsung, the main competitor, is also developing stacked memory technologies, announcing capabilities with speeds 8 times faster than next-generation HBM.