Thursday, July 2nd 2026
Samsung and SK hynix to Expand Semiconductor Capacity with $870 Billion Plan
South Korean giants Samsung and SK hynix have announced plans to invest about 1,350 trillion won, roughly $870 billion at the time of writing, into expanding semiconductor manufacturing capacity and data centers over the next ten years. This ten-year plan includes memory, storage, and logic, which both companies produce. For SK hynix, this investment will cover DRAM and NAND Flash, while for Samsung, it will cover DRAM, NAND Flash, as well as logic for its LSI division. The investment is so comprehensive that it will include more than just creating new fab production capacity for increased wafer output. For example, it will also encompass AI data centers, batteries, display manufacturing, chip-making tools, etching, photomasks, and much more.
The first milestone set by the South Korean government is to double DRAM production capacity within five years and significantly improve NAND Flash production capacity. By the end of the ten-year plan, both Samsung and SK hynix will add 4-5 semiconductor plants to their South Korean hubs, which will be a massive investment in job creation and production capacity. This is a strong indicator that South Korea will remain a leader in modern memory and storage production. Although the plans might seem ambitious, the ten-year timeline allows both companies and the South Korean government to manage the investment and buildout effectively.
For example, SK hynix plans to install 20 additional Low-NA EUV machines by 2027, along with two High-NA EUV machines from ASML. Samsung has ordered seven Low-NA EUV units for installation by the end of 2027, indicating that significant expansion is underway. Additionally, Samsung is integrating High-NA EUV machinery into its future production lines and is already seeing great benefits.
Source:
via Wccftech
The first milestone set by the South Korean government is to double DRAM production capacity within five years and significantly improve NAND Flash production capacity. By the end of the ten-year plan, both Samsung and SK hynix will add 4-5 semiconductor plants to their South Korean hubs, which will be a massive investment in job creation and production capacity. This is a strong indicator that South Korea will remain a leader in modern memory and storage production. Although the plans might seem ambitious, the ten-year timeline allows both companies and the South Korean government to manage the investment and buildout effectively.
16 Comments on Samsung and SK hynix to Expand Semiconductor Capacity with $870 Billion Plan
If that's the case, this isn't really a "consumer memory expansion" at all. It's an AI infrastructure expansion, with consumers getting whatever capacity is left over. (AKA almost nothing)
Great for shareholders. Not so great for anyone hoping DDR5 prices return to normal anytime soon.
10 YEARS TOO LATE & A FEW BILLION SHORT......
By the time this additional capacity comes online, demand will be at least 2x, 3x or 4x higher than it is today, so yea, ABSOLUTELY ZERO help for us little people
When this Ai nonsense implodes, I guess we'll be getting RAM in boxes of cereals and washing detergent for like 50 cents extra coz they'll have insane capacities and no one to sell it to...
The demand won't stop either since datacenter companies will always want the latest memory on the most efficient node.
I don't expect prices for consumers to come back down any time soon, there probably won't be a return to 2025 prices because the memory cartel will just cut supply when they're able to meet demand.
If the AI revenue side doesn’t eventually justify that spending, this won’t just be “cheap RAM in a few years.” It could be a much larger correction across semis, cloud, power, real estate, and financing.
Maybe I’m wrong, but this has the potential to make the dot-com bust look small because the spending is touching far more of the physical economy than just websites and startups.
And some image upscaling tool that uses Ai models to upscale images with incredible detail. But I don't mind super focused Ai tools, they have its place. What everyone dreads are these ultra multi purpose chat bot tools that just replace everything and they do everything badly and with constant trust issues because you don't know when they'll do it badly.
I don't need "Ai" in everything, but I find it useful sometimes. Ai could be developing at reasonable pace without everyone just dumping EVERYTHING into it and just stifling all other industries in favor of Ai.
Because this is a bottomless pit, a blackhole of resources, it literally doesn't have an end.
A race to the moon has an end, whoever gets there first wins.
But here where's the end of the race?
Singularity?
What does that mean that AI doesn't need more resources because it's "aware"?
Just being aware doesn't mean it's potentially infinitely smart, the human being is also aware (to a degree) and is potentially infinitely stupid (this AI stint sure hints at this).
So if "awareness" is like a ladder, with steps/levels it just means AI will keep needing resources in order to increase its "intellect" thus as I said this has no end.Even if prices won't return to that level, it's important that they drop MUCH lower than the 4-5x absurdity of today.Seems risky to be that optimistic, the potential for a huge disappointment is too great.To other companies.
The saying is "there is more than one way to skin a cat" therefore surely there are almost endless ways to spy on the plebs. To profile, to scam, to exploit them etc.
It will probably turn into a corpo war using AI tools to outdo each other in various fields.
The constant in this will be the destitute plebs acting as entertainment tools aka toys for the rich.
What a time to be alive.