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SK Hynix is now the market leader in memory, also thanks to greater use of EUV than its competitors. According to current expansion plans, this is set to continue: Within just two years, around 20 more EUV systems are to be purchased to equip new factories and are intended for HBM and the latest memory solutions.
Number of EUV systems to double
SK Hynix already uses around 20 EUV systems from ASML in the Netherlands in its production. According to South Korean media today, this number is set to double by 2027, which could make SK Hynix one of the three largest customers.
According to analyses, SK Hynix would then have as many or even more EUV systems in use than Intel, which is rather atypical for a memory manufacturer. The number 1 in EUV is of course TSMC, which is unbeaten, while Samsung is number 2 as the world's second largest foundry, because it was here, in the logic sector, that EUV established itself many years earlier.
Intel completely missed the boat and is now having to pay for its failure with extensive problems including mass redundancies and new partnerships for financial injections.
SK Hynix, on the other hand, is extremely active in the new EUV systems. The manufacturer has been using EUV since 2021, and the South Koreans have already taken delivery of their first high-NA EUV system. This is now being used to test when it will be worth using in series production.
Micron is taking exactly the opposite approach: Here, EUV has only just been ramped up and is now slowly being integrated. However, the difference of four years does not seem to make as much of a difference in memory production as it does in the logic sector, as Micron also continues to make a lot of sales and high profits. After four years without EUV, Intel had once again fallen behind TSMC in terms of processor production.
The new EUV and later also high-NA EUV systems should help SK Hynix to bring new products to market faster and with good yields. The advantage of the newer equipment is always that the number of exposure steps can be reduced, resulting in fewer errors. Ultimately, this saves time and costs, even though the initial investment of several hundred million euros per exposure system is huge. The scanners are to be used in both the M15X factory extension in Cheongju and the M16 factory in Icheon.
