SK Hynix weighs Japan memory fab partnership to support AI boom

SK Hynix is doing something no major South Korean memory chipmaker has done before: seriously considering a large-scale manufacturing facility on Japanese soil. CEO Kwak Noh-jung disclosed the company’s exploration of deeper collaborations within Japan’s semiconductor sector in late August, with a potential fab in Miyagi Prefecture designed to ramp up production of high-bandwidth memory and NAND chips for AI workloads.

The investment could reach tens of trillions of won. To put that in perspective, SK Hynix just approved approximately 54 trillion won, roughly $39 billion, for new DRAM and NAND fabs back home in South Korea.

Why Japan, why now

Japan houses many of the world’s most critical suppliers of advanced materials and equipment used in chip manufacturing. There’s also the matter of government subsidies. Japan has been aggressively courting semiconductor manufacturers with generous financial incentives as part of its broader strategy to rebuild domestic chip production capacity. Micron announced an investment of roughly $10 billion in a Hiroshima expansion for HBM and AI memory in July 2026, with the Japanese government backing the project with up to 500 billion yen.

SK Hynix appears eager to tap into a similar well of support. Internal reviews of the Miyagi site are currently underway, and expectations are that SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won will visit the location personally.

CEO Kwak discussed potential NAND market co-development with Japanese entities during meetings on August 27-28, suggesting the partnership could extend well beyond simply building a factory.

The AI memory arms race

SK Hynix currently commands between 50% and 60% of the global market for high-bandwidth memory. SK Hynix was the first company to mass-produce HBM chips for NVIDIA’s AI accelerators.

In June 2026, SK Hynix and NVIDIA unveiled a multi-year technology partnership focused on advancing next-generation memory solutions for AI factories, supercomputers, PCs, and robotic platforms.

SK Group is also planning a gigawatt-scale AI Factory data center in Japan, targeted for operational readiness between 2028 and 2029, integrating SK Hynix’s HBM technology with NVIDIA’s GPU offerings.

Geopolitics and supply chain resilience

Samsung has been investing heavily to close the gap in HBM production, while Micron’s Hiroshima expansion puts additional competitive pressure on SK Hynix in the Japanese market specifically.

The combined investment picture is staggering. The $39 billion earmarked for domestic Korean fabs, plus tens of trillions of won potentially flowing into Miyagi, plus the AI Factory data center project, represents one of the largest capital expenditure programs in the global semiconductor industry.

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