South Korean chip giant SK Hynix, which makes the majority of the world’s high-bandwidth memory chips for artificial intelligence, is undergoing the world’s largest memory fab buildout, betting $720 billion to triple capacity by 2034. This secretive memory king is also the hottest new entrant to the U.S. market, following a blockbuster Nasdaq debut in July.
SK Hynix, whose market cap has jumped more than fivefold in the past year and now tops $1 trillion, is making a big bet that extreme demand from AI is here to stay. Soaring memory prices exacerbated by capacity constraints are changing the fabric of the classic boom-and-bust industry, with AI chip giants like Nvidia willing to take on more risk as they scramble to secure supply. This is a never before seen look inside the highly secured company from the largest factory being built in South Korea to an inside look at a cleanroom where memory is made, to SK Hynix’s first ever U.S. facility coming in Indiana.
Plus, CNBC’s Katie Tarasov got a rare chance to sit down with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and SK Hynix technology leads to ask about the huge risks they’re taking in hopes that AI has changed the memory business for good.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:09 $720 billion chip bet
8:23 Making HBM in a hurry
12:43 Boom and bust?
17:42 Coming to America
Reporter and Producer: Katie Tarasov
Senior Director of Video: Jeniece Pettitt
Edited by: Erin Black, Andrew Evers
Additional Camera: Richard Larkin, Nenad Simic
Animation: Jason Reginato, Emily Park, Christina Locopo
Additional Footage: SK Hynix, AMD, Samsung, Micron, Getty Images, Solidigm, ASML
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