SK Hynix Resumes Dalian NAND Plant 2 Construction, Plans 50% Capacity Expansion

SK Hynix has resumed construction of the second plant at its NAND flash production base in Dalian, China, with plans to expand capacity by about 50%. The facility was started four years ago but had remained largely idle due to a downturn in the memory industry. SK Hynix intends to bring in semiconductor production equipment by the end of 2026 and commence full-scale production in the first half of 2027.

Solidigm, SK Hynix's NAND flash subsidiary, resumed investment in the Dalian Plant 2 from the first half of 2026 and restarted construction work. The new production line is expected to process about 50,000 wafer starts per month. Combined with the existing 100,000 wafers per month at Dalian Plant 1, total local capacity will increase by roughly 50%.

In 2021, SK Hynix established Solidigm through the acquisition of Intel's NAND business, taking over Dalian Plant 1 and related facilities, and began construction of Plant 2 in May of the following year. However, due to the prolonged slump in the storage semiconductor sector, work on Plant 2 stalled after the main structure was completed. With the rapid development of global artificial intelligence, demand from large data centers has continued to grow, and enterprise solid-state drives (eSSDs) have seen a surge in demand, driving NAND flash prices up nearly tenfold within a year.