SK Hynix Approved $38 Billion of New Memory Fabs That Won't Produce a Chip Before December 2028

SK Hynix (NASDAQ: SKHY) is putting a historical magnitude of wealth into caller capacity. On Aug. 7, the representation maker's committee signed disconnected connected 54.3 trillion won of spending -- astir $38 cardinal -- divided crossed 2 caller plants. Some 35.2 trillion won goes to the Y2 fab successful Yongin, which volition marque high-bandwidth representation (HBM) and next-generation DRAM. The remaining 19.1 trillion won funds the M17 installation successful Cheongju, which volition marque NAND flash memory.

The timelines are the striking part. M17's groundbreaking comes successful February 2027, and its archetypal cleanroom doesn't unfastened until December 2028. Y2 waits until July 2027 to interruption ground, with its archetypal cleanroom opening successful June 2029. And a cleanroom opening comes earlier the instrumentality goes in, fto unsocial measurement shipments. The soonest either works opens its archetypal cleanroom is astir 2 and a fractional years away.

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For a representation marketplace wherever prices person been surging connected abbreviated supply, the spread betwixt approving capableness and producing from it whitethorn beryllium the astir important fig successful the announcement.

Two fabs, 2 clocks

The projects service antithetic halves of the representation market, and they tally connected antithetic schedules. M17, the NAND plant, is the nearer one, with operation starting successful aboriginal 2027 and the concern moving done April 2031.

Y2 is the bigger committedness astatine 35.2 trillion won, and the aboriginal one, with spending planned done October 2031. It's aimed astatine HBM and next-generation DRAM -- the chips feeding artificial quality (AI) processors, and the products down the company's grounds 2nd quarter.

So M17's archetypal cleanroom opens astir six months up of Y2's. Either way, the hold is measured successful years.

The institution framed the spending arsenic keeping gait with demand. "This concern is simply a determination made to prehend opportunities successful enactment with the market's maturation speed," SK Hynix said successful the announcement.

Demand is already outrunning proviso

The urgency shows successful the numbers SK Hynix reported a week earlier. Second-quarter gross came successful astatine 79.3 trillion won, up 51% from the archetypal 4th and 257% from a twelvemonth earlier, portion operating nett reached 60.5 trillion won, bully for an operating borderline that expanded to 76% -- some all-time records. DRAM and NAND flash prices some roseate importantly from the archetypal quarter, and first-half gross crossed 100 trillion won (about $70 billion) for the archetypal clip successful the company's history. The institution besides began wide shipments of HBM4, its newest high-bandwidth representation successful wide production, during the quarter, and said it has finalized semipermanent agreements with astir 10 cardinal customers.