SK Hynix to Build $106 Billion Fab Cluster: 800,000 Wafer Starts a Month
by Anton Shilov on April 2, 2021 1:00 PM ESTCapping off a busy week for fab-related news, South Korea authorities this week gave SK Hynix a green light to build a new, 120 trillion won ($106.35 billion) fab complex. The fab cluster will be primarily used to build DRAM for PCs, mobile devices, and servers, using process technologies that rely on extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV). The first fab in the complex will go online in 2025.
The new cluster will house four huge semiconductor fabrication plants, which will be located on a 4.15 million square-meter site, reports The Korea Herald. The four fabs will have a planned capacity of around 800,000 wafer starts per month (WSPM), which will make the site one of the world's biggest semiconductor production hubs. Keeping in mind that we are dealing with EUV fabs, it is not surprising that a huge 200,000-WSPM plant with EUV tools will cost SK Hynix north of $25 billion. The fab cluster will be located near Yongin, South Korea, 50 kilometers south of Seoul, according to Yonhap news agency that cites the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The new fabs will be used to make various types of DRAM using SK Hynix's upcoming production technologies that will use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. And with a start date still years away, we're likely looking at a fab that will be used to manufacture DDR5, LPDDR5X, and other future types of DRAM.
SK Hynix reportedly plans to start construction of the first fab in the Yongin cluster in the fourth quarter of 2021. Given the expected size of the massive building and the amount of time needed to folly load it with production equipment, SK Hynix expects this first fab to be completed in 2025.
It is necessary to note that just several years ago SK Hynix and Samsung used to build fabs that could produce both DRAM and NAND flash memory – or at least be converted with a minimal amount of effort. This is not the case today as DRAM production now heavily relies on lithography equipment, whereas 3D NAND production uses loads of etching tools, which is why the fabs for different types of memory have to be equipped completely differently.
The fab cluster in Yongin will be SK Hynix's second major DRAM site in South Korea after the company's primary DRAM hub near Icheon that houses its M10, M14, and M16 fabs. The M16 fab was completed in February and will be used for DRAM production using SK Hynix's EUV-based 1a process technology starting the second half of 2021.
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webdoctors - Friday, April 2, 2021 - link
After what happened in Texas I wonder if half the cost is just ensuring its got adequate water, power plants and its earthquake proof being in Asia...dotjaz - Saturday, April 3, 2021 - link
And you think they haven't done that before? Did you think you just discovered power shortages and natural disasters for the first time in human history? Dumb Americans, always think you are ahead when you are FAR behind without foreign talent.YazX_ - Saturday, April 3, 2021 - link
on spot bro, they always think they know everything while in fact they know nothing and talking bla bla bla without thinking, and here you have a perfect example with this dumb mofu above you.LarsBolender - Saturday, April 3, 2021 - link
spot on*If you wanna be a dick at least learn to speak/write properly.
skavi - Monday, April 5, 2021 - link
Context makes it clear English is likely not their first language. Why does it matter that they slightly botched an idiomatic expression when the meaning is still quite obvious?YazX_ - Monday, April 5, 2021 - link
and who the f.uck are you to tell me how to speak or write? what this has to do with the context, article or OP comment??seems you are just a passing by butthurt cunt that has nothing to add or reply rather than being an English policeman and thats exactly proving the point of dotjaz, thanks for giving me another perfect example.
29a - Monday, April 5, 2021 - link
JealousyOxford Guy - Tuesday, April 6, 2021 - link
What is it with all the teenybopper angst flooding this place lately?Crazyeyeskillah - Saturday, April 10, 2021 - link
It's one of the reasons I have so little view time on anandtech for the last few years, it was supposed to be a website that you could discuss tech in depth, not throw monkey poo at each other.JimmyZeng - Tuesday, April 13, 2021 - link
Not pointing fingers but I'm guessing it's the GPU shortage driving everybody to their edge.