SK hynix to Build 19 Trillion Won Advanced Packaging Fab in Cheongju to Meet AI Memory Demand

Decision to Build New 'P&T7' Fab in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province
Construction to Begin in April, Completion Targeted for 2027
Pivotal Role Expected in Transforming DRAM into HBM Products
Strengthening Competitiveness Through Organic Conne

SK hynix will establish a new advanced packaging fab in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, to respond to the recent surge in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) memory. The investment will amount to 19 trillion won.

Aerial view of SK hynix's new fab P&T7. SK hynix Newsroom

On January 13, SK hynix announced in a post titled "Explanation Regarding New Investment in Advanced Packaging Package & Test (P&T)" on its newsroom that it has decided to build the advanced packaging fab "P&T7."

P&T7 will be built on a 230,000-square-meter (approximately 70,000 pyeong) site within the Cheongju Technopolis Industrial Complex, with a total investment of 19 trillion won. Construction is scheduled to begin in April, with completion targeted for the end of 2027.

The company stated, "In advanced packaging processes, proximity to the front-end process is extremely important in terms of integration, logistics, and operational stability," adding, "After reviewing various domestic and international candidate sites, we decided to establish P&T7 in Cheongju, taking into account the need to strengthen the competitiveness of the semiconductor industry and promote balanced regional development."

This investment is seen as a strategic move to both align with the government's policy of balanced regional growth and strengthen future semiconductor competitiveness, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM).

P&T7 will be an "advanced packaging" fab that completes semiconductor chips produced in front-end fabs into finished products and conducts final quality verification. The front-end process refers to the stage in memory semiconductor manufacturing where circuits are formed on wafers to create memory cells and devices. Chips that have undergone the front-end process are then cut, packaged, and tested in the back-end process, which is divided into packaging and testing, to become finished products ready for practical use. Advanced packaging, as part of the back-end process, is a core technology that determines performance and power efficiency in the production of AI memory such as HBM.

With this, SK hynix will secure a total of three advanced packaging hubs: Icheon in Gyeonggi Province (the Seoul metropolitan area), Cheongju (outside the metropolitan area), and West Lafayette, Indiana, in the United States. In particular, the SK hynix Cheongju Campus has now established a comprehensive semiconductor cluster encompassing the production of NAND flash, HBM, DRAM, and advanced packaging through this investment. Cheongju already houses the M11, M12, and M15 fabs for NAND production, as well as P&T3 for back-end processes. In addition, the company has decided to invest a total of 20 trillion won to build M15X, which will secure next-generation DRAM production capacity, including HBM, by 2024. M15X opened its cleanroom ahead of schedule in October last year and is currently installing equipment in phases, preparing for full-scale operation.

SK hynix plans to strengthen its AI memory competitiveness over the long term through organic integration among its fabs. The company also aims to proactively respond to the growing demand for HBM. In particular, P&T7 is expected to play a significant role in the process of commercializing DRAM produced at the front-end fab M15X into HBM products.

SK hynix further explained that it made this investment decision in light of ongoing discussions about the significance and role of regional investment, focusing on the importance of balanced regional growth and the positive effects on the overall industrial ecosystem. "Through the Cheongju P&T7 investment, we aim to contribute to building a structure where the national industrial base is strengthened and both the metropolitan area and regional areas grow together in the mid- to long-term, beyond short-term efficiency or gains," the company stated. "We hope that the combined efforts of government policy and corporate initiatives will lead to enhanced national competitiveness."