SK hynix Seeks to Double its Foundry Capacity

Park Jung-ho, co-CEO and Vice Chairman at SK hynix  today stated during an official government event that SK hynix is considering feasible plan to double its foundry capacity. Park said the Company will look into several strategic options such as equipment expansion at domestic sites and M&A.

According to the SK hynix official, SK hynix will invest in 8-inch foundry business in order to support the development, mass production and global market expansion of domestic fabless companies. Also, the Company is expecting to expand the product portfolio and provide global customers with semiconductors oriented to various applications including mobile, home electronic appliances, and automotive.

Park’s statement demonstrated his strong will that SK hynix will devote to stabilize the global semiconductor supply amid the global chip shortage, and also to support domestic fabless companies to further invigorate Korean semiconductor ecosystem.

The semiconductor industry also expects that Park, who was recently appointed as co-CEO of SK hynix, might soon announce more specific investment plan such as M&A, as he was one of the leading executives in SK Telecom’s acquisition of SK hynix.

Park, who is a well-renowned M&A expert in SK Group, also participated in SK hynix’s major investments such as its investment in Kioxia Corporation (formerly known as Toshiba Memory Corporation) and the acquisition of Intel’s NAND and SSD business.

In fact, during SK hynix’s latest quarterly earnings conference call, Kevin (Jongwon) Noh, Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Center (CFO) at SK hynix, clarified Park’s comment and said the Company will invest in 8-inch foundry.

SK hynix is a traditional semiconductor memory manufacturer; its sales of non-memory semiconductors and foundry business only takes up 2% of its total revenue.

More specifically, SK hynix owns SK hynix system IC, one of its affiliates which runs foundry business in China, and the Company also possesses remaining space for foundry equipment in Cheongju, South Korea