The South Korean memory manufacturer SK Hynix, supplier to major tech companies like Nvidia, is considering Japan as a possible location for a new chip production plant, in a context of strong demand increase linked to the rise of artificial intelligence.
"We are looking all over Japan. Anywhere with good energy and drinking water," declared the president of SK Group --the parent company of SK Hynix--, Chey Tae-won, to the Bloomberg agency during the meetings between the chambers of commerce of Japan and South Korea.
The head of SK Group refrained from commenting on the option of sealing agreements with Japanese companies, although sources familiar with the process cited by the same agency point out that the purchase of a local company to develop its activity there is one of the alternatives being analyzed.
In any case, the final structure of the project in Japan will depend on the type of alliance that is closed and the specific products that are manufactured, aspects that have not yet been made public.
SK Hynix's growth plans also include an investment of 54 trillion won (about 33.5 billion euros) in its plants in South Korea, while the construction of an advanced memory packaging factory in the U.S. city of West Lafayette, in the state of Indiana, is progressing.
"South Korea and Japan are coming together to form an economic block. Both countries not only collaborate but also complement each other," indicated Chey Tae-won, who also presides over the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in his speech during the business meeting between the two nations.