Construction of the new facility, M15X, is scheduled to start next month and to be completed early in 2025.
Located in Cheongju, south of Seoul, the plant will make memory chips. The type of chip, whether DRAM or NAND flash will, according to the company, be determined by market conditions.
SK Hynix currently has DRAM production facilities in Icheon, South Korea, NAND flash chip production plants in Cheongju, as well as production plants in Wuxi, Chongqing and Dalian, China.
The company’s parent company, SK Group, has also announced plans to build a chip packaging facility in the United States.
While SK Hynix is looking to boost its capacity the market for memory chips has been in decline as demand for gadgets has fallen back due to the impact of rising inflation, the economic slowdown and supply chain uncertainties.
Despite a more challenging market SK Hynix said that it expected to see a recovery in demand from 2024 and a rebound in 2025, with the cyclical nature of the business becoming less volatile compared to past years.
"The plan to build the M15X comes as SK Hynix prepares for the next upturn expected to come in 2025," according to a company spokesperson.
