SK hynix, South Korea’s second-largest chipmaker, said Friday the company will construct a new semiconductor fabrication plant at its headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, in response to growing demand for memory chips.

The announcement was made a day after the company reported all-time high earnings in the second quarter.

Construction will begin at the end of this year on a 53,000-square-meter site on the company’s Icheon campus with a schedule to be completed by October 2020. 

SK hynix will invest 3.5 trillion won ($3.12 billion) in the new fab. The investment was expanded from an initial plan due to the company’s decision to create a space for extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment.

The production portfolio of the fab is to be decided later in response to market conditions.

The chipmaker is continuing to expand its production capacity with the M14 in Icheon as well as the construction of a new fab in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. And it is expanding its cleanroom space at a plant in Wuxi, China.

All of the expansions are expected to be completed in the second half of this year.



By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)