# SK Hynix building new DRAM and NAND fabs > Source: > Published: 2026-08-07 14:39:41+00:00 # SK Hynix building new DRAM and NAND fabs [SK Hynix](https://www.blocksandfiles.com/flash/2026/07/29/sk-hynix-announces-extraordinarily-high-revenues-but-misses-expectations/5280499) is building new fabs in Yongin and Cheongju to expand its DRAM and NAND production capacity in line with customer AI-driven demand. It cites market research firm Omdia saying both DRAM and NAND demand are projected to maintain a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19 percent from last year through 2030. SK Hynix said it views this growth, not as a temporary supercycle, but as a structural transformation in which memory transcends its role as a mere component to become core infrastructure determining AI performance itself. The thinking behind this role transcendence is that previous memory cycles have gone form boom to bust as the boom led to manufacturing capacity over-build for demand that fell away, leading to over-production, lower prices, under-utilization of fabs, and losses for the memory suppliers. Now, they say, that was when memory was a commodity component. These days it's becoming core infrastructure which is, they hope, different. In truth, it is still a component, just a more important one SK Hynix will invest invest ₩54 trillion ($37.3 billion) in total; ₩35.2 trillion ($24.2 billion) in the Yongin Y2 fab and ₩19.1 trillion ($13.13 billlion) in the Cheongju M17 fab. The Y2 cleanroom will open in June 2029 and M17’s cleanroom will open in December 2028. SK Hynix announced a master plan in June 2026 which specified investments of ₩600 trillion ($412.6 billion) in its Yongin Semiconductor Cluster and ₩100 trillion ($68.8 billion) to expand its Cheongju production base, and it's currently constructing its first fab in Yongin (Y1). Yongin Y1 construction is progressing toward its initial cleanroom opening target of February 2027. It will have up to six cleanrooms built in phases to produce both [HBM](https://www.blocksandfiles.com/glossary/2022/04/30/high-bandwidth-memory/1611982) and ordinary DRAM.. Yongin Y2 is the second of four fabs planned sequentially for the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster. It will serve as a DRAM production base producing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and other next-generation DRAM products. The site will have a total floor area of 341,000 pyeong (approximately 1,130,000m2). Construction is scheduled to break ground in July next year. SK Hynix plans to complete its four new Yongin fabs, adding Y3 and Y4, by 2033, with ttheir specific imelines reflecting AI memory demand. The original completion date was 2045 but AI-driven demand for DRAM and HBM has increased so much and appears to have a solid long-term dimension that SK Hynix advanced completion by 12 years. The Cheongju Campus already houses the M11, M12, and M15 fabs and SK Hynix selected Cheongju as its new NAND fab base because it offers the fastest fab construction timeline. We understand SK Hynix’ M16 fab is located at its Icheon campus and construction finished in February 2021. There is no M16 fab at Cheongju. Cheongju M17 will be built across a total area of 206,000 pyeong(approximately 680,000m2), breaking ground in February 2027 An SK Hynix official stated: “This investment is a decision made to seize opportunities in line with the market's growth speed. By proactively securing production capabilities, we aim to establish ourselves as a key partner in AI infrastructure, contributing to the stability of the global AI semiconductor supply chain.” Comment A feature of the memory industry is that suppliers build new manufacturing capacity based on research into future demand. Each supplier makes its own rational judgements but the industry, as a whole, can make irrational judgements. SK Hynix's DRAM competitors China's CXMT, Micron and Samsung each have their DRAM manufacturing expansion plans. [Huawei](https://www.blocksandfiles.com/ai-ml/2026/07/16/huawei-could-become-a-dram-fabber/5273853) could start to make DRAM. SK Hynix' NAND competitors, Kioxia-Sandisk, Micron, Samsung and China's YMTC, have bit output expansion based on node transitions to denser NAND, such as adding more layers to 3D NAND. Because of this, the pressure to build more NAND fabs is less than the DRAM fab-building pressure - but then we don't have 3D DRAM. Even so SK Hynix is building a new NAND fab. [Micron](https://www.blocksandfiles.com/flash/2026/07/02/micron-and-gm-sign-long-term-chip-supply-agreement/5265574) is also building new 3D NAND capacity; fab; 10B in Singapore with a $24 billion investment. Construction started in January this year at its existing North Coast Wafer Fab Park campus. Although SK Hynix says memory is now a core (AI) infrastructure component that does not preclude the two parts of the semiconductor memory industry, over-building capacity. If enterprise AI adoption falters then the over-building possibility could become real and, glory be, prices will fall.