
SK Hynix plans to spend $11 billion on next wafer fab
South Korean memory chip company SK Hynix has said it plans to invest 15 trillion won (about US$11 billion) in a memory wafer fab to be built at Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do.
The company said it would break ground for its M15X fab in October and complete construction in early 2025. The $11 billion spend would be made over the next five years.
The plant will be built on 60,000 square meters of land located in the Cheongju Technopolis industrial complex and completed early 2025. The fab will be a two-story building equivalent to a combination of M11 and M12 in size.
The X stands for extension and the fab represents an addition to the existing M15. While SK Hynix is bringing forward the start of M15X it said it would hold off on its construction of M17, the next wafer fab, while it reviews overall business environment including changes in the semiconductor business cycle.
SK Hynix said that demand for memory chips is falling due to a global economic slowdown but experts foresee that business will start to recover in 2024 and rebound in 2025. The company added that it has a history of investing during downturns and benefiting from the following upturns. The company invested 46 trillion from 2014 to 2021 to build M14 in Icheon, M15 in Cheongju and M16 in Icheon.
The plan to build the M15X comes as SK Hynix prepares for the next upturn expected to come in 2025.
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