SK Hynix Approved $38 Billion of New Memory Fabs That Won't Produce a Chip Before December 2028
The memory giant's newly approved plants won't open cleanrooms until late 2028 and mid-2029. What happens to memory prices in the meantime?
SK Hynix, the memory manufacturer listed on NASDAQ as SKHY, has announced a staggering $38 billion investment in new memory fabrication facilities. This monumental spending, approved by the company's board on Aug. 7, is divided between two ambitious plants. The Y2 fab in Yongin, capable of producing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and next-generation DRAM, will cost 35.2 trillion won ($38 billion).
Meanwhile, the M17 facility in Cheongju, specializing in NAND flash memory, will require an additional 19.1 trillion won in investment.
The timelines for these projects are notably lengthy. The groundbreaking for the M17 plant is scheduled for February 2027, with its first cleanroom set to open by December 2028. In contrast, the Y2 fab won't commence construction until July 2027, and its initial cleanroom is projected to become operational in June 2029. It's worth noting that a cleanroom's opening happens before the actual equipment installation and, even further, before any volume shipments can commence.
Given the current surge in memory prices due to supply shortages, the extended gap between approving capacity and actual production may prove to be a critical factor in the announcement's significance.
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