SK hynix is expanding production and research facilities as it prepares new memory technologies to defend its lead in AI hardware.
According to SK hynix At the company’s 2026 Global Forum in Santa Clara, SK hynix chief executive Kwak Noh-Jung argued that demand for AI memory would remain high.
He said that without memory, the AI industry cannot exist, which is a defensible position from a man whose outfit sells quite a lot of it.
Kwak pointed to the Yongin semiconductor cluster in South Korea, the Indiana facility and a planned Global AI R&D Centre in the US. SK hynix says those sites will strengthen the production and research base behind its next generation of memory. The Indiana project focuses on advanced packaging, so describing every site as a new DRAM fabrication plant would give the company a few factories it has not announced.
HBM gave SK hynix a strong position in AI accelerators, and Kwak wants the next products to extend that advantage. He said the company would open further possibilities for AI through the memory it is developing, although the forum announcement gave no specifications, launch dates or customer commitments for a new chip.
The technical discussion offered a clearer account of where SK hynix intends to work. Executives responsible for DRAM design, AI interfaces, packaging and memory systems discussed how those fields need to fit together. Faster memory solves less if connections, packaging or the surrounding system cannot keep up.
SK hynix displayed HBM products and next-generation memory work at the forum. Its engineers and researchers then held smaller sessions on silicon design, manufacturing processes, advanced packaging and AI systems.
Kwak said new production hubs and research facilities would help protect the company’s technological edge and market position. Rivals Samsung and Micron will have their own views on how long any lead lasts, especially as demand gives all three a strong reason to spend a lot of cash.
