SK Hynix, a South Korean-based memory chip giant, has announced its intention to invest 9.4 trillion Korean won ($6.8 billion) in the construction of a new semiconductor manufacturing plant.
It is known that the announced production site will operate in a developing chip cluster in the mentioned Asian country. In this case, it means the Yongin semiconductor cluster, located south of the capital of South Korea, Seoul, where the government intends to build a massive complex for making microcircuits.
The announced plant will be SK Hynix’s first production site in the mentioned cluster. It is expected that the construction of the factory will begin in March next year. The completion of this project is scheduled for May 2027.
SK Hynix manufactures memory chips that are used in a wide range of devices, including laptops and servers. In recent years, the company has been supplying its high-bandwidth memory microcircuits to Nvidia, which develops graphics processing units necessary for the training and subsequent operation of artificial intelligence systems.
It is worth noting that SK Hynix has already announced its intention to build four factories in Yongin since the beginning of 2024. The company plans to invest 120 trillion Korean won for these purposes.
The large-scale financial injections reflect the desire of both SK Hynix and the South Korean government to maintain the country’s leadership in the area of production of memory chips needed for artificial intelligence apps. Seoul has allocated billions of dollars to develop the semiconductor-making sector. It is worth noting that chips have recently been considered by many governments as strategic products. This position is justified because microcircuits are used in many industries. For example, chips are already applied in the automotive industry. Also, without microcircuits, it is virtually impossible to develop artificial intelligence, which is the main technology of modernity.
SK Hynix is one of the beneficiaries of the so-called machine intelligence boom. The company’s cooperation with Nvidia generates positive indicators of financial growth. Last week, SK Hynix reported that its revenue for the second quarter of 2024 was 16.42 trillion Korean won. This indicator increased by 124.7% year-on-year.
