ICHEON, KOREA - SK Hynix will build a new semiconductor production line in its Icheon campus. The world's second-largest memory chip maker had attempted an expansion plan earlier in 2006 but was unable to realize it due to government regulations restricting environmental concerns.

 

 

The SK Group company will hold a board of directors meeting on December 20 and pass a proposal to invest more than 15 trillion won by 2021 in building a new production line in the existing site in Icheon, a city 60 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

 

A company official said, "The M10 line in Icheon has become obsolete and we need a new line to replace it." Built in the early 1990s to make 130,000 200-mm wafers a month, the M10 line underwent a renovation in 2005. But the line has begun showing signs of obsolescence since the late 2000s and the company asked the government to permit it to build a new production line. This time, the government gave it a green light on condition that the company reduce wastewater emissions and other pollutants.