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?
Overview
SK Hynix (NASDAQ: SKHY) is putting a historic amount of money into new capacity. On Aug. 7, the memory maker's board signed off on 54.3 trillion won of spending -- about $38 billion -- split across two new plants. Some 35.2 trillion won goes to the Y2 fab in Yongin, which will make high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and next-generation DRAM. The remaining 19.1 trillion won funds the M17 facility in Cheongju, which will make NAND flash memory.
The timelines are the striking part. M17's groundbreaking comes in February 2027, and its first cleanroom doesn't open until December 2028. Y2 waits until July 2027 to break ground, with its first cleanroom opening in June 2029. And a cleanroom opening comes before the equipment goes in, let alone volume shipments. The soonest either plant opens its first cleanroom is nearly two and a half years away.
Details
For a memory market where prices have been surging on short supply, the gap between approving capacity and producing from it may be the most important number in the announcement.
Source
Originally published at www.fool.com.