SK hynix Inc. announced it will build new fabs in Yongin and Cheongju to meet AI‑era memory demand. The board approved an investment of 54 trillion won, split into 35.2 trillion won for Yongin’s Y2 fab and 19.1 trillion won for Cheongju’s M17 fab. This follows the company’s mid‑to‑long‑term strategy launched in June.

Yongin’s Y2 is the second of four planned fabs in the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, covering 341,000 pyeong (~1,130,000 m²). Groundbreaking is slated for July next year, with a first cleanroom opening in June 2029 to produce high‑bandwidth memory and next‑gen DRAM. Construction of Y1 is progressing toward a February 2024 cleanroom target.

Cheongju’s M17 will occupy 206,000 pyeong (~680,000 m²) and will be built on the existing campus that hosts M11, M12, and M15 fabs. It is expected to break ground in February next year and open its first cleanroom in December 2028, enabling rapid NAND production for enterprise SSDs and AI inference cache.

With DRAM and NAND demand projected to grow at a 19% CAGR through 2030, SK hynix views this expansion as more than a supercycle; it is a structural shift positioning memory as core AI infrastructure. The investment will boost domestic competitiveness, create jobs, and strengthen the global AI semiconductor supply chain.