SK Hynix completes new M16 DRAM fab
Line to use EUV process
SK Hynix said Monday that it has completed the construction of its M16 fab, which will produce next-generation DRAM using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) process.
The fab will begin producing Gen 4 10-nm (1a) DRAM in the second half of 2021, the company said.
Construction for the factory began in November 2018 and the company invested 3.5 trillion won in its construction.
SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won, SK Hynix vice chairman Park Jung-ho and other executives attended the construction completion ceremony for M16 on Monday.
Chey said there were concerns when SK Hynix began construction of M16 two years ago as the semiconductor market was a downturn then. But the semiconductor market has started its up-cycle now and the company’s decision to invest at difficult times will allow it to dream of the future, the chairman said.
SK Hynix said around 3.34 million works a year were committed to building M16.
The fab will take up 57,000 meter-square of space and the biggest factory owned by SK Hynix to date.
The South Korean memory semiconductor maker said back in 2014 that it planned to build three new fabs locally within the next ten years. It built M14, M15 and now M16 since then, within three years.