A Series of Large Investment Expected
SK Hynix Inc. is planning to invest 15 trillion won (US$13.39 billion) in expanding its semiconductor production line in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. The government has decided to ease regulations to facilitate the chipmaker's investment.
“I believe that a conglomerate will soon announce its investment plan worth 3 trillion to 4 trillion won (US$2.68 billion to 3.57 billion) in the short term and 15 trillion won (US$13.39 billion) in the medium term,” said Kim Dong-yeon, South Korea’s finance minister and deputy prime minister for the economy, during a meeting with reporters on July 26 at the Government Complex Sejong. “When a company makes a large-scale job-creating investment, we will remove restrictions in package that can cause problems to the company in order to actively encourage investment.”
SK Hynix is the one making a 15 trillion won (US$13.39 billion) investment that Kim mentioned. SK Hynix will announce its M16 investment plan, which is a new production line in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, soon. The company hasn’t decided on what the production items are but they are highly likely to be memory chips such as DRAM and NAND flash chips.
It took more than seven years to ease the regulations that impeded SK Hynix's plan to build the M14 plant, which was completed in 2015. However, the construction of the planned M16 plant will not take that long as Kim has promised to remove restrictions in package.
Another firm that makes an investment worth 3 trillion won to 4 trillion won (US$2.68 billion to 3.57 billion) is LG Chem Ltd. The company will invest 2.8 trillion won (US$2.5 billion) to additionally expand its naphtha cracking center (NCC) in Yeosu, South Jeolla province.
Kim will also visit Samsung Group next month. He said, “I am planning to visit Samsung early August.” Regarding whether Kim will have a meeting with vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, he said, “Let’s wait and see.” Samsung is expected to come up with large-scale job creation and investment plans.