SK Hynix will invest 54 trillion won (£38.1 billion) in two new South Korean memory-chip factories, aiming to meet rapidly rising demand from AI data centres. The move matters because shortages of high-performance memory have lifted prices and profits across the industry, while increasing costs for consumer electronics.

The company plans to spend 35.2 trillion won on a Yongin plant producing HBM and other DRAM chips, and 19.1 trillion won on a Cheongju facility for NAND storage. The first cleanroom could begin production in June 2029, so the investment is unlikely to ease memory prices soon; analysts expect tight supply to persist until at least the end of 2028 as manufacturers prioritise more profitable data-centre customers.