Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which have a combined share of 70 percent in the global DRAM market, have already opened new plant or plans to do so within the third quarter of this year.
The two Korean chip makers plan to churn out state-of-the-art DRAMs, including those used for data storage server, at the new plants. Some analysts said that the world’s No. 3 player Micron Technology is having difficulty in developing advanced memory chips, providing an opportunity for Samsung and SK Hynix to expand their leadership further.
According to industry sources on July 20, Samsung launched the production of DRAMs at one of the 17 lines in its Hwaseong plant. Samsung invested about 14 trillion won to complete this plant by the end of last year.
SK Hynix is also set to launch the operation of its new plant M14 in Icheon in the east of Gyeonggi Province within the third quarter of this year. The M14 plant is built to replace the existing old DRAM production line (M10).
Samsung’s annual DRAM output will likely to expand up to 30 billion units next year from 24 billion this year, while that of SK Hynix will rise to 20 billion units from 17 billion during the same period.
