SK Hynix, which was taken over by Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, with a strong will, would move to make the largest capital spending this year, as part of strategies to surpass Micron Technology and thus create the memory chip industry landscape dominated by two powers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

According to the semiconductor industry on Wednesday, SK Hynix is planning to invest 5.8 trillion won ($5.3 billion) this year. The figure is an increase of about one trillion won from last year’s 4.8 trillion won and the largest since the foundation of the company in 1983. The investment would mostly go to M14 DRAM line, which is under construction in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, and facilities for tech migration and NAND Flash.

Market forecasts are upbeat. According to DRAM eXchange, global sales of DRAM are expected to climb 14 percent from last year to $52.8 billion this year. This is because demand for mobile DRAM for smartphones and tablet PCs is ever-growing, as well as new demand and replacement need for servers for business uses.

“Investment in facilities worth 3.9 trillion won was injected into tech migration and the construction of the new M14 plant in Icheon in the first to third quarters last year and annual investment is estimated at between 4.5 trillion won and five trillion won,” according to sources from SK Hynix.

SK Hynix is fiercely competing with US based Micron Technology, which acquired Japan’s Elpida Memory, for second place in the memory market. According to IHS, a market research firm, last year, in the world’s memory semiconductor market, Micron Technology with the market share of 20.4 percent and SK Hynix with 19.3 percent were snapping at the heels of the frontrunner Samsung Electronics with 35.2 percent. Against this backdrop, SK Hynix aims to come in at second place this year.

By: DocMemory
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