In Yongin, South Korea, the towering frame of a semiconductor fab has emerged, reaching the height of a 50-story apartment building to form the massive Yongin Semiconductor Cluster. With construction gaining momentum, SK hynix has decided to invest approximately KRW 21.6 trillion (USD 15bn) in the new facility for the first fab by the end of December 2030. This brings the total investment for the construction of the first fab to approximately KRW 31 trillion (approx. USD 21.5bn), which includes the approximately KRW 9.4 trillion (approx. USD 6.5bn) facility investment previously announced in July 2024.
This investment comes from a strategic decision to proactively address rapidly growing global customer demand and further strengthen supply system stability. With the expansion of advanced industries such as AI, data centers, and high-performance computing (HPC), the demand for high-performance and high-density semiconductors is also experiencing structural growth. To keep pace with these changes, SK hynix aims to expand production capacity ahead of schedule and establish a foundation to ensure a stable supply of products for customers when they require it.
The projected investment scale for the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster is expected to increase significantly compared to the previous level. Under the Act on Special Measures for Strengthening the Competitiveness of and Protecting National High-Tech Strategic Industries, the floor area ratio (FAR) for industrial complexes that house strategic technology companies has been eased to up to 1.4 times the statutory limit. As a result, cleanroom space has been expanded, and the updated investment figure reflects these structural changes while factoring in inflation.