Samsung's R&D Investment Rises 25.5% and SK Hynix's Investment Jumps 65%
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. (Photo courtesy of techovedas.com)
In the first quarter of this year, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix expanded their research and development (R&D) expenses and facility investments side by side. The two companies are accelerating their R&D and facility infrastructure investments to preemptively secure the next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) memory market. In particular, amid surging demand for AI semiconductors, a fierce competition is underway to secure future dominance by focusing on investments for advanced process conversion and production capacity expansion.
According to the Quarterly Report disclosed by each company on May 15, Samsung Electronics executed 11.3374 trillion won ($7.60 billion) in R&D expenses in the first quarter of this year. This is a 25.5% increase from 9.0348 trillion won in the first quarter of last year. It is the largest scale ever, once again surpassing the record-high R&D expenses set in the previous first quarter.
Facility infrastructure investments also continued. Samsung Electronics’ facility investment amount in the first quarter was tallied at a total of 11.2332 trillion won. This slightly decreased compared to the first quarter of last year. In facility investments, the semiconductor business division (DS) accounted for the majority. The investment amount for the DS division was tallied at 10.1927 trillion won. Investments were centrally made in the expansion and conversion of advanced processes and infrastructure.
Samsung Electronics explained, “We continuously pursued investments to strengthen the competitiveness of next-generation memory technologies and to prepare for mid-to-long-term demand,” adding, “For system semiconductors, investments to secure advanced node production capacity (CAPA) are also underway.” In addition, the company explained that it is focusing on enhancing investment efficiency through activities to solidify internal stability.
Samsung Electronics mentioned the mass production shipment of the industry’s highest-performing high bandwidth memory (HBM4) applying the most advanced process 1c DRAM and a 4-nanometer base, the development of the PCIe 6.0-based high-performance server SSD PM1763, and the launch of the Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra as its major R&D results in the first quarter.
SK Hynix similarly expanded its investments significantly. SK Hynix’s R&D expenses in the first quarter of this year were tallied at 2.5504 trillion won. Compared to the first quarter of last year (1.5440 trillion won), this is a massive 65.18% increase. The ratio of R&D expenses to sales was shown to be 4.9%.
SK Hynix’s facility investment amount in the first quarter was 7.3480 trillion won, a significant increase compared to the same period last year (5.8840 trillion won). SK Hynix stated that it is seeking an increase in production capacity by investing in assets such as semiconductor machinery and equipment.
As SK Hynix’s R&D achievements, the company mentioned the 1c nano-based mobile DRAM LPDDR6 and the 1c nano-based server DRAM 16Gb DDR5. The 1c nano-based LPDDR6 is the world’s first product and realizes an operating speed of 10.7Gbps. In addition, the company has completed the development of a PCIe Gen5 SSD product for data centers applying a total liquid cooling (DLC) system aimed at Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) in the Americas.
Kim Eun-jin
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