SK Hynix Investment Spurs Capacity Expansion

SK Hynix Co. reported a record quarterly profit on April 22, 2026, driven by rising AI-memory prices and demand, alongside announcing a $12.85 billion investment in a new advanced-packaging plant to expand capacity for data-center chips.

P&T7 Advanced Packaging Facility

The company plans to build P&T7, an advanced-packaging plant dedicated to high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI data centers and Nvidia platforms. The facility will support mass production of a 192-gigabyte SOCAMM2 module for the Vera Rubin platform.

Located in the Heungdeok district of Cheongju, South Korea, P&T7 will be SK Hynix’s fifth packaging site, following M11, M12, M15, and M15X. The plant will feature about 60,000 square meters of wafer-level packaging across three floors and 90,000 square meters of wafer-test lines across seven floors, totaling roughly 150,000 square meters of cleanroom space. Construction is scheduled to start in April 2026, with wafer testing planned for October 2027 and wafer-level packaging for February 2028. The investment remains subject to change based on market conditions and company strategy.

Q1 Results and AI Memory Demand

SK Hynix reported first-quarter revenue of 52.6 trillion won, operating profit of 37.6 trillion won with a 72% margin, and net profit of 40.3 trillion won with a 77% margin. Net profit rose 406% year over year, reflecting stronger AI-memory sales and higher memory prices.

Management said it will align capital projects and product launches to secure supply amid accelerating AI memory demand, describing these efforts as essential for the emerging agentic AI era. The company also highlighted a complementary $3.87 billion packaging project in Indiana targeting next-generation HBM4E and HBM5 production, with mass production expected in the second half of 2028. It warned that chip shortages could persist through 2030.