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SK hynix will build a large-scale NAND flash memory plant worth 80 trillion won in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, to target surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI) storage.
Kwak Noh-jung, president of SK hynix, said at a national briefing on the advanced industry development vision for the Chungcheong region held in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, on the 2nd, "We will build a new NAND fab (production facility) 'M17' worth 80 trillion won in Cheongju," adding, "We plan to break ground next year and begin operations in the first half of 2029."
M17 is the fourth NAND fab SK hynix is building in Cheongju, following M11, M12 and M15. It will be added 11 years after M15, which has been in operation since 2018. Including the DRAM fab M15X, it is the fifth front-end memory processing facility.
In simple terms, the investment is four times larger than M15, which received 20 trillion won in the 2010s. SK hynix explained that fab construction costs themselves have risen due to factors such as higher raw material prices in the interim, but even accounting for this, M17 is expected to have considerable production capacity. M17's building area is 158,000 square meters (about 48,000 pyeong).
Through this, SK hynix plans to lead the global supply of NAND, which is drawing attention as a core component of AI computation, following high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Kwak said, "As AI services take off in earnest, demand for NAND, along with high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and DRAM, is growing explosively," adding, "On the other hand, NAND supply is in shortage, so expanding production lines is necessary."
Alongside this, SK hynix will also build P&T7, an advanced packaging (back-end) fab worth 20 trillion won, targeting operations by the end of next year. It is expected to create synergy by enhancing the quality competitiveness of memory products produced at adjacent front-end facilities including M17, M15 and M15X, and by shortening the production cycle. In particular, it is expected to play a major role in turning DRAM produced at M15X into HBM products.
SK Group will also build a 1-gigawatt (GW)-class AI data center worth 70 trillion won in the Chungcheong region, bringing its total regional investment—combining semiconductor fabs and the AI data center—to 170 trillion won. Kwak said, "We will create an AI industry ecosystem where semiconductor production and AI computing generate synergy," adding, "We will make the Chungcheong region a global hub for AI."
