Spending 1.5 trillion won! Samsung and SK Hynix ramp up investments in Chinese factories, targeting AI memory shortages

According to a report by the Global Times, “Korean chip giants are increasing their investment in China to address memory shortages in the field of artificial intelligence.” Reporting under this headline on March 30, The Korea Times said that the latest report data show that two of South Korea’s leading chip giants, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, will continue to ramp up investment in their China-based factories in 2025. This dynamic strategic layout is both a direct response to the current global memory chip market shortfall and also highlights China’s critical position in the global semiconductor supply chain system.

Citing the annual reports that the two companies submitted to South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service, The Korea Times said that in 2025 Samsung Electronics invested 465.4 billion won (about US$304 million) in its Xi’an, Shaanxi chip plant, a year-on-year increase of 67.5%. SK hynix invested 581.1 billion won in its Wuxi, Jiangsu plant, up 102% year on year, and invested 440.6 billion won in its Dalian, Liaoning plant, up 52% compared with 2024.

According to a report by the Seoul Economic Daily, Samsung is pushing ahead with further upgrades to the main process technology at its Xi’an plant to meet the demand from artificial intelligence servers and data centers for high-capacity storage. On March 30, Samsung Electronics’ NAND wafer fabrication plant in Xi’an, China, completed a key process technology upgrade, and the eighth-generation V-NAND officially entered mass production. SK hynix has already invested more than 1 trillion won into its Wuxi and Dalian plants to upgrade its DRAM and NAND production processes.