Japanese Media: "SK Hynix Proposes Collaboration for AI Semiconductor Production in Japan"

SK Hynix reportedly explored a collaboration plan to produce high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a semiconductor for artificial intelligence (AI), in Japan with a Japanese semiconductor company, according to reports on the 4th.

According to Japan's Jiji Press and Yonhap News Agency on the same day, SK Hynix is said to have conveyed this collaboration proposal to Kioxia Holdings. This is separate from the semiconductor business merger negotiations between Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory) and the U.S. company Western Digital (WD), which were halted last October due to opposition from SK Hynix. The largest shareholder of Kioxia is a Korea-U.S.-Japan joint consortium including Bain Capital, in which SK Hynix invested about 4 trillion won in 2018.

Kioxia is reportedly considering its future response by taking into account its relationship with Western Digital and the semiconductor market conditions. Jiji Press reported that SK Hynix appears to be aiming to quickly establish a production increase system by utilizing Kioxia’s existing factories in Japan, located in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, or Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture. Currently, Kioxia produces NAND flash memory at its factories in Japan together with its partner Western Digital.

However, this information was first reported by Jiji Press on the 1st and has not been covered by other major media outlets in Japan.