This image, provided by SK hynix Inc. on Jan. 13, 2026, shows a concept image of the company’s new back-end fabrication plant set to be built in the central city of Cheongju. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — SK hynix Inc. said Tuesday it will invest heavily in a new advanced semiconductor packaging plant in central South Korea as it moves to strengthen its position in the fast-growing market for high-bandwidth memory, a critical component in artificial intelligence computing.
The company plans to spend 19 trillion won ($12.9 billion) to build a new packaging and testing facility, known as P&T7, in Cheongju, about 110 kilometers south of Seoul. Construction is set to begin in April, with completion targeted before the end of 2027.
The new plant will anchor what SK hynix describes as a full-cycle production hub for high-bandwidth memory, integrating both front-end wafer fabrication and back-end packaging and testing operations in a single region.
The company already operates three semiconductor fabs in Cheongju—M11, M12 and M15—and is preparing to bring its M15X plant online, which will focus on HBM production.
Advanced packaging has become increasingly important as chipmakers race to meet demand from data centers and AI accelerators, where performance gains depend on tightly integrated memory stacks rather than traditional scaling.
On Jan. 8 (local time), the third day of CES, a video showcasing HBM4 is playing at the SK hynix booth at the Venetian Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Yonhap)
SK hynix said proximity between front-end and back-end facilities is critical to ensuring efficient logistics, tighter process control and stable production yields.
Once the new facility is completed, Cheongju will house an integrated semiconductor cluster covering NAND flash, dynamic random-access memory and high-bandwidth memory, giving SK hynix greater flexibility to respond to surging demand from AI customers.
The global market for HBM is expected to grow at an average annual rate of about 33% through 2030, the company said, citing research from Yole Group.
Packaging and testing facilities handle the final stages of semiconductor manufacturing, separating chips from processed wafers and assembling them into finished products. As AI workloads drive demand for more complex chip architectures, these back-end processes have emerged as a strategic bottleneck—and a key area of investment for leading memory makers.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
