Samsung, SK Hynix plan $1.3T capex over decade on AI memory demand

South Korea's Samsung and SK Hynix are slated to announce combined investment plans worth up to 2,000 trillion won ($1.3 trillion) over the next decade, according to Korea Economic Daily reporting on plans to be unveiled at a presidential briefing on June 29. The spending blueprint covers semiconductor fabrication plants, AI data center expansions, and advanced memory manufacturing across southwestern and central South Korean regions.

Both chipmakers are betting that AI demand will sustain elevated memory prices and justify massive fab expansion despite near-term stock declines. Samsung Electronics fell 4.7% and SK Hynix dropped 3.1% on the news, as investors questioned the financial returns on such scale. However, SK Hynix has already signaled plans to double production capacity over five years and is preparing a $29 billion USD IPO listing, while Samsung reported record revenues and profits on booming HBM demand.

The capex surge reflects a structural shift in memory supply: SK Hynix leads NVIDIA's HBM chip allocation, while Samsung has been racing to narrow the gap. With cloud providers racing to expand AI infrastructure and both firms already commanding historically wide margins (75%+ gross profit), architects should view this as a multi-year bet that HBM scarcity and hyperscaler capex will justify greenfield fab construction timelines stretching into 2028–2030.