[News] SK hynix at Full Throttle for HBM Expansion with Engineers Reportedly Set for M15X Fab in March

With HBM demand soaring, SK hynix is reportedly ramping up capacity expansion, as it accelerates progress at its M15X fab in Cheongju. According to NewDaily, the company will begin deploying engineers to prepare for operations at the site as soon as next month.

SK hynix plans to finish building its M15X fab by November 2025 for early mass production, as per its press release. The new DRAM production base represents an investment of around 5.3 trillion won (approximately USD 3.86 billion).

Notably, the report indicates that when M15X is completed and becomes fully operational, the company’s HBM capacity would increase by 20-30% compared to current levels.

The NewDaily report suggests that the deployment of personnel is set to begin in early March, as a large number of engineers are expected to be dispatched to kick start the final preparations for the factory’s operation.

Interestingly, though M15X is right next to SK hynix’s M15 fab, personnel from its DRAM plant in Icheon must be assigned to M15X, as the M15 fab is dedicated to NAND production, according to NewDaily.

Hopefully, the new DRAM hub would be capable of meeting the demand by SK hynix’s big clients. Previous media reports indicated that NVIDIA had asked SK hynix to speed up its delivery time for HBM4 by six months. At CES 2025, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won confirmed that the company’s next-gen HBM development is now ahead of NVIDIA’s needs, according to Korea JoongAng Daily.

As per another ZDNet report, SK hynix aims to ship HBM4 samples to NVIDIA as early as June 2025, with full-scale product supply expected to begin around the end of the third quarter.

In 2024, SK hynix recorded best-ever yearly performance with 66.1930 trillion won in revenues, 23.5 trillion won in operating profit with an operating margin of 35%, and 19.8 trillion won in net profit with a net margin of 30%.

Read more

• [News] SK hynix Reportedly Set 1c DRAM Mass Production in Feb, While Samsung Delays by Six Months
• [News] SK Chair Meets with Jensen Huang, Highlighting HBM Developments Exceeding NVIDIA’s Requests

(Photo credit: SK hynix)