The company invests 19 trillion won to build the P&T7 advanced packaging facility supporting AI memory like HBM
The site for the P&T7 facility in the Cheongju Technopolis industrial complex. (Photo provided by SK Hynix)/
SK Hynix is investing 19 trillion won (approximately $12.8 billion) in Cheongju to establish an artificial intelligence (AI) memory hub. Through its new ‘P&T7’ production base, the company plans to contribute to the revitalization of the local economy and enhance its technological competitiveness alongside its partners.
SK Hynix announced on April 22 that it held the ‘P&T7 Groundbreaking Ceremony,’ attended by 125 executives and employees, including Lee Byung-ki, Head of Mass Production, 40 family members, and 20 employees from SK ecoplant, which is overseeing the construction. P&T is a facility that packages semiconductor chips produced in the fab into final products and performs final quality verification.
The groundbreaking ceremony began with a progress report on the factory construction, followed by a performance pledging safety and a touch-button ceremony to mark the start of construction. Participants hoped for the construction to proceed smoothly without any unexpected safety accidents.
P&T7 is a fab dedicated to ‘advanced packaging,’ which is essential for manufacturing AI memory such as HBM. It is scheduled to be built on a site of approximately 230,000 square meters within the Cheongju Technopolis industrial complex at a cost of several trillion won.
The cleanroom area will total approximately 150,000 square meters, combining three floors of Wafer Level Packaging (WLP) process lines spanning about 60,000 square meters and seven floors of Wafer Test (WT) process lines covering about 90,000 square meters..
Following the groundbreaking, construction will proceed with the goal of establishing the WT line by October 2027 and sequentially completing the WLP line by February 2028.
Recently, key technologies like WLP that overcome the limits of miniaturization are rapidly being developed. The back-end process has evolved from its traditional role of ensuring the reliability of developed products and completing packaging to become a key variable determining the performance of AI semiconductors.
P&T7, which will integrate advanced process technologies, is expected to become a strategic hub for proactively responding to the surging global demand for AI memory and maintaining the current ‘technology super-gap’ after its completion.
Lee Byung-ki, Head of Mass Production at SK Hynix, said, “P&T7 is the core production base that will complete SK Hynix’s AI memory leadership. We will focus our manufacturing capabilities so that the advanced products produced here can become the standard for the global AI infrastructure. At the same time, we will communicate closely with the local community to complete a successful business model that achieves the dual goals of strengthening national industrial competitiveness and fostering regional co-prosperity.”
SK Hynix ultimately chose Cheongju for the P&T7 site, considering the importance of balanced regional growth and the impact on the overall industrial ecosystem from the selection stage. This was a strategic decision to strengthen the national industrial base in the mid-to-long term and create a virtuous cycle where the capital region and provincial areas grow together by shifting the weight concentrated in the metropolitan area to the provinces.
P&T7 is the fifth production facility SK Hynix is building in Cheongju, following M11, M12, M15, and M15X. Once completed and synergy with adjacent production bases begins, Cheongju is expected to establish itself as SK Hynix’s new core hub for AI memory.
The positive ripple effects on the local community are also expected to be significant. First, during the construction period, an average of 320 and a maximum of 9,000 workers will be deployed to the site daily, which is expected to invigorate the local economy.
After completion, approximately 3,000 employees will be employed to operate P&T7. When such a large-scale industrial complex is activated, nearby infrastructure, including transportation networks, will be expanded, which is expected to significantly improve the living conditions for local residents.
As the number of partner companies in the Cheongju area increases, SK Hynix plans to further expand its existing mutual growth programs, including technology development, management consulting, and financial support. Through this, the company aims to enhance the competitiveness of the entire regional industrial ecosystem and solidify a virtuous cycle where the strengthened technological capabilities of its partners are immediately reflected in SK Hynix’s product competitiveness.
An SK Hynix official stated, “P&T7 is more than just an expansion of production facilities; it is the fruit of trust built between the region and the company, and it will become a key axis for leading balanced regional growth. We will continue to sincerely pursue win-win cooperation with the local community to set a successful milestone for national balanced development.”
Meanwhile, SK Hynix plans to continuously review measures to diversify its domestic bases in a way that can contribute to balanced regional development when considering further expansion of back-end process fabs to meet AI demand.
Kim Eun-jin
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