Seoul: SK hynix Inc.'s expanded investment plan for its new chip cluster will bolster its responsiveness to soaring global demand for memory chips amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, industry watchers said Tuesday. During a meeting held Sunday with President Lee Jae Myung and leaders of other major conglomerates, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said SK hynix aims to increase investment in the Yongin semiconductor cluster, just south of Seoul, beyond the initially proposed 128 trillion won (US$85.5 billion) by 2028.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Yongin government recently increased the floor area ratio at the site to 490 percent from the previous 350 percent, with the building height limit also eased to 150 meters from the earlier 120 meters. The adjustments to the plan initially unveiled in 2019 came as SK hynix aims to expand the combined size of the clean room at the envisioned chip cluster by 50 percent to further bolster production capacity amid the AI boom.

The Yongin semiconductor cluster will have four fabs, each equivalent in size to six M15X fabs recently built in Cheongju, 137 kilometers south of Seoul, with an investment of 20 trillion won. This translates into each new fab at the Yongin cluster requiring 120 trillion won, or 480 trillion won for four. Experts say that considering inflation and the pace of technological development in production equipment, the adjusted 600 trillion-won investment target may be reasonable.

"As the Yongin semiconductor cluster boasts massive capacity, each fab built will have a significant impact on the global memory chip market," an industry watcher said. "The company's responsiveness to the sharply rising global memory chip demand will depend on the progress of the project," the official added.