SK Hynix to invest £2.37 billion in new DRAM plant

SK Hynix is the second largest DRAM manufacturer in the world behind Samsung. And after strong financial results for the last quarter, the company is looking to invest 3.5 trillion Won (£2.37 billion) in a new semiconductor fabrication plant at its HQ in Icheon, South Korea.

SK Hynix has announced plans to continue its huge investment in the DRAM market by spending £2.37 billion to build a new fabrication plant. Construction on the 53,000m² plot will begin sometime later this year with the goal of being up and running in 2020. This new plant will increase SK Hynix's production capacity, allowing it to make more DRAM chips at once to compete with the likes of Samsung and Micron.

This news of course arrives just a few days after reports began circulating about a potential memory oversupply in 2019. This is in part due to increased competition from two new Chinese companies planning to enter the DRAM market.

Image credit: SK Hynix

SK Hynix has been investing elsewhere too, including an expansion of the production capacity at its M14 plant that makes both DRAM and NAND flash. That’s in addition to similar work taking place at the cleanroom space at another plant.      

DRAM manufacturers may be under fire for price fixing, but their work has seen the DRAM market grow by 76% last year according to DRAMeXchange. Hopefully, SK Hynix’s further investment will help alleviate the current sky-high pricing of RAM.

KitGuru Says: It appears that fines and lawsuits aren’t affecting SK Hynix bottom line after they were found guilty of price fixing. £2.37 billion is a serious investment. Do you think that this will help bring DRAM prices to a sane level?

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