On February 25th, SK Hynix announced the groundbreaking of its first semiconductor production plant within the Longin Semiconductor Industry Cluster in Gyeonggi Province. The company aims to establish a strong production base for next-generation DRAM memory, including high bandwidth memory (HBM), to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) memory semiconductors.

On February 21st, Longin City quickly approved the construction of SK Hynix Phase I factory, which had started construction in full a day earlier. This rapid approval is due to the "early construction of production lines and activation of the local construction industry business agreement" signed between Longin City and SK Hynix in April last year. The agreement also facilitated the establishment of a building permit working group to simplify the permit process.

The Longin Semiconductor Industry Cluster is located in Yuansan myeon, Longin City, South Korea, covering an area of 4.15 million square meters (approximately 1.26 million ping). A total of four wafer fabs will be built, and the first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in May 2027. This ambitious project has received support from a massive investment of approximately 9.4 trillion Korean won, which was decided by the board of directors of SK Hynix in July last year.

SK Group Chairman Choi Tae won emphasized the importance of the Longren Industrial Cluster during his inspection in September 2023. He described it as "the most meticulously planned and strategically strongest project in SK Hynix's history," emphasizing the need to go beyond past efforts and undertake innovative challenges.

To achieve its strategic goals, SK Hynix has also built a "micro wafer fab" in the first phase of its wafer fab. The facility will be equipped with 300mm wafer processing equipment, providing a research environment for domestic component, material, and equipment suppliers to develop, demonstrate, and evaluate new technologies. A representative from SK Hynix emphasized the company's commitment to enhancing the competitiveness of the Korean semiconductor ecosystem, stating, "We plan to work with over 50 component, material, and equipment suppliers within the cluster to contribute to improving the competitiveness of the Korean semiconductor ecosystem

The Longren Cluster is part of SK Hynix's broader strategy to maintain its competitive advantage in the global semiconductor market. By focusing on next-generation memory technology and infrastructure development, the company aims to lay the foundation for medium to long-term growth. The construction of the M15X HBM production base in Qingzhou also provides further support for this initiative, and the base is expected to be completed by the end of this year

SK Hynix CEO Guo Luting emphasized the crucial role played by the South Korean semiconductor industry in the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI).

On February 20th, Guo Luting wrote on his social media account: "Looking back at the time of participating in Semicon Korea 2025, I once again feel the enormous responsibility that the semiconductor industry shoulders. At the same time, with the continuous development of artificial intelligence, the risks are clearly greater than ever before
His remarks indicate that the South Korean semiconductor industry must respond more quickly and actively to the advancement of artificial intelligence.

Guo Luting said in an interview with reporters on the 19th, "South Korea has experienced an unprecedented downturn, and now with the arrival of artificial intelligence, it has ushered in a huge wave. I believe that we (South Korea) will be able to successfully ride this wave, and as an industry insider, I will continue to provide support." Regarding China's DeepSeek, which has had a huge impact on the artificial intelligence market, Guo Luting said, "It is difficult to discuss a specific product (DeepSeek), but if more attempts are made in this field (low-cost artificial intelligence models), it will eventually become an important catalyst for the popularization of artificial intelligence

At the same time, Guo Luting met with Luc Van den hove, President and CEO of IMEC, Dirk Beljaarts, Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands, and Peter Wennink, former CEO of ASML, during the event. He also shared photos of these meetings on social media.

Max Mirgoli, Executive Vice President of IMEC Global Cooperation, also posted on social media after meeting with Kwak, stating that "SK Hynix's achievements with cutting-edge technology are truly remarkable. This is fully reflected in the supercomputers of NVIDIA and AMD. SK Hynix's high bandwidth memory (HBM) innovation has played a crucial role in their design and large-scale technology operation