SK Hynix Approves $39.2 Billion for Yongin Fab 2, Cheongju M17

SK Hynix Inc. will invest a combined 54 trillion won ($39.2 billion) in new production facilities in Yongin and Cheongju to meet rising demand for artificial intelligence memory.

The company said Aug. 7 that its board approved 35.2 trillion won ($25.6 billion) to build Yongin Fab 2, or Y2, and 19.1 trillion won ($13.9 billion) for the M17 NAND production fab in Cheongju.

"In the AI era, the ability to supply customers with the volume they need when they need it is competitiveness itself," SK Hynix said. It added that the investment decision came after a close review of demand.

The move is part of the chipmaker's mid- to long-term investment strategy announced in June. SK Hynix is currently building Yongin Fab 1, or Y1, under a plan to invest 600 trillion won ($435.8 billion) in the Yongin semiconductor cluster and 100 trillion won ($72.6 billion) to expand its Cheongju production base.

Yongin Y2 will be the second of four fabs SK Hynix plans to build in the Yongin semiconductor cluster. Construction will begin in July 2027, with the first clean room set to start operations in June 2029.

Spending on Yongin Y2 will be carried out in phases through October 2031. The fab will serve as a production base for next-generation DRAM products including high-bandwidth memory, or HBM.

Cheongju M17 is scheduled to break ground in February 2027, with its first clean room slated to open in December 2028. Investment will continue through April 2031, with spending to be deployed in stages in line with the project schedule.