SK Hynix Studies Japan Plant for Memory Chips, Prioritizing Power and Water

SK Hynix is studying the feasibility of building a memory chip plant in Japan through a joint venture, one of several options the company is considering to meet surging demand from artificial intelligence (AI) while keeping production costs in check. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said in Sendai, Japan, that the company is scouting locations across the country, and any site with sufficient electricity and water supply would be suitable. He did not disclose potential partners or specific locations.

SK Hynix is considering building a large memory chip production plant in Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan, with investment potentially reaching tens of billions of dollars. Chey recently visited Miyagi Prefecture. If the project materializes, it would mark the first large-scale semiconductor production base in Japan by a Korean chipmaker. SK Hynix is searching for potential production sites globally.

To address growing memory demand driven by AI, SK Hynix has already announced investment of 54 trillion won (about $39 billion) to build new wafer plants in Yongin and Cheongju, South Korea, for producing DRAM and NAND flash memory. The company also held a groundbreaking ceremony last week for an advanced memory chip packaging plant in Indiana, United States. SK Hynix is one of the major manufacturers of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), supplying products to Nvidia and data center developers.

SK Hynix is also seeking to deepen cooperation with Japanese customers and suppliers. The company already indirectly holds a significant stake in Kioxia Holdings, a Japanese flash memory maker. SK Hynix Chief Executive Kwak Noh-jung said last week that the company is exploring ways to jointly develop the NAND flash memory market with customers and suppliers in Japan's memory industry. Japan is home to semiconductor materials and equipment suppliers such as Namics and Tokyo Electron, while customers include Sony Group and Nintendo.