(Feb. 1, 2012) - Memory chip maker SK Hynix announced today that its new M16 fab in Icheon, south of Seoul, South Korea, has been completed and that SK Hynix will use extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV) lithography for the first time in the production of memory chips.
SK Hynix spent 3.5 trillion won (approximately $3.1 billion) over two years to build the chip factory, which is 336 meters long, 163 meters wide and 105 meters high, equivalent to the height of a 37-story apartment, and is SK Hynix's largest chip factory to date.
SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won said at the award ceremony that the decision to build the new plant was bold two years ago because the entire semiconductor memory chip market was in the doldrums at the time, and that the decision seems very wise today.
SK Hynix said it has introduced an EUV lithography machine at the new plant M16 to improve the fineness of chip circuits.
SK Hynix currently plans to start mass production of fourth-generation 10nm (1α) DRAM chips using the EUV lithography machine from June this year.
According to SK Hynix CEO Lee Seok-hee, M16 is a relatively advanced chip manufacturing facility that concentrates advanced facilities in line with ESG (environmental, social and governance) concepts, such as a workshop dedicated to EUV equipment and the latest pollution reduction facilities.
He also said that the completion of M16 also represents an early realization of his company's "vision for the future" announced in 2015. At that time, SK Hynix announced that it would build three new plants in 10 years starting in 2014, with M14 and M15 completed in 2015 and 2018, respectively, and M16 being the last plant in its "future vision.
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