SK Hynix is making new investments in semiconductors to secure a foundation for future growth despite the economic downturn.

SK Hynix announced on the 6th that it will build a new semiconductor production plant, M15X (eXtension), in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province.

SK Hynix has decided to commence construction of M15X, an expansion fab of M15, ahead of schedule on the already secured site after comprehensively considering market conditions and other factors.

SK Hynix began construction of the M15X on a site of approximately 60,000 m2 in the Cheongju Techno Valley Industrial Complex in October of this year, and aims to complete it in early 2025.

The company plans to invest a total of 15 trillion won in the construction of the M15X plant and production facilities over the next five years.

The M15X is a duplex structure and is similar in size to the existing Cheongju M11 and M12 factories combined.

In addition, SK Hynix plans to decide on the start of construction of the nearby new M17 plant by considering the business environment, including the semiconductor market conditions.

SK hynix Vice Chairman Park Jung-ho said, “Looking back on the past 10 years, SK hynix was able to grow into a global company because we made bold investments that looked to the future even in times of crisis.” He added, “Now, we must prepare for the next 10 years, and the commencement of construction of the M15X will be the first step toward securing a foundation for future growth.”

SK Hynix has strengthened its competitiveness in the memory semiconductor market to the global top level through preemptive investment despite rapid changes in the business environment.

In 2012, when the semiconductor industry continued to reduce investment, the company was in deficit.Despite this, SK Hynix succeeded in turning a profit at the end of that year by significantly increasing its investment by more than 10% compared to the previous year. Although the market situation remained uncertain, SK Hynix boldly built the Icheon M14 in 2015 to prepare for the upcoming memory semiconductor boom, and eventually achieved its best performance ever for two years starting in 2017.

SK Hynix, which was incorporated into the SK Group in 2012, has continued to invest for 10 years based on its “future vision” announced in 2015. The future vision included investing a total of 46 trillion won since 2014 to build three additional factories, including the Icheon M14. The company achieved its future vision early by completing the Cheongju M15 in 2018 and the Icheon M16 in 2021.

Recently, demand for memory semiconductors has been rapidly decreasing due to the global economic downturn and supply chain instability. However, as the fluctuation cycle of the memory semiconductor industry is shortening, experts predict that the industry will gradually recover from 2024 and rebound in 2025.

SK Hynix planned to build the M15X as a preliminary preparation to increase the supply of memory semiconductors in line with the industry rebound in 2025, and expects that the M15X will serve as a precursor to the coming boom.