SK Hynix's First-Half Capex Surges Over 70%, Boosting AI Storage Capacity

August 14th. According to South Korean media, to meet the increasing demand for artificial intelligence storage, SK Hynix significantly increased its equipment investment and R&D spending in the first half of this year. Cash spending on tangible assets exceeded 18 trillion Korean won, a growth of over 70% compared to the same period last year. According to SK Hynix's semi-annual report disclosed on the 14th, on a consolidated basis, the company's cash spending on tangible assets in the first half of this year was 18.3288 trillion Korean won, a 72.7% increase from the 10.6157 trillion Korean won in the same period last year. R&D spending also saw a substantial increase.

The total R&D expenditure in the first half of this year was 6.0428 trillion Korean won, a 98.4% increase from the 3.0456 trillion Korean won in the same period last year. Of this, 5.8163 trillion Korean won was used for ongoing development costs. With the continuous growth in demand for AI-specific high-bandwidth memory (HBM), server DRAM, and enterprise SSDs, SK Hynix is accelerating the expansion of its production facilities.