Samsung and SK Hynix invested almost a billion dollars in expanding memory production in China last year

How South Korean memory giants keep access to U.S. equipment and expand production in China

During Joe Biden’s presidency, U.S. authorities tried to limit the ability of South Korean manufacturers to expand their plants in China. These factories are key for supplying memory chips to the global market. Nevertheless, Samsung and SK Hynix managed to maintain access to American equipment while investing in modernizing their Chinese operations.

1. Samsung Electronics
Metric Data Investment in Xi’an (2023) $344 million Growth vs 2022 +67.5% Plant role Samsung’s only overseas site for NAND memory; supplies up to 40% of global output Investment history After investing $464 million in 2019, the company did not make large investments for four years. In 2024 it allocated $184 million, and last year the amount was almost doubled.
Thus Xi’an became a strategic hub for Samsung, especially given the rising demand for memory in the AI era.

2. SK Hynix
Metric Data Total investment in China (2023) > $663 million Plants – DRAM plant in Wuxi; – 3D‑NAND factory in Dalian, purchased from Intel in 2022 Investment in Wuxi (2023) doubled to $190 million Investment in Dalian (2023) $293 million (1.5× the 2024 figure) Economic weight ≈ 1 trillion South Korean won – a significant sum for the company
SK Hynix is actively expanding DRAM and 3D‑NAND production to meet growing demand from AI and cloud services.

3. Technology plans
Company Planned product Location
Samsung 236‑layer 3D‑NAND (transition from 128‑layer) China
Samsung 400‑layer 3D‑NAND South Korea
SK Hynix Upgrade Wuxi DRAM plant to 10‑nm (1a) Wuxi, China

- Samsung intends to launch the more advanced 236‑layer memory in China, keeping it competitive despite the country’s technology development limits.

- SK Hynix plans to upgrade the Wuxi DRAM process to 10‑nm (1a), enabling efficient DDR5 production. The plant already accounts for over 30% of the company’s global DRAM output.

Conclusion
Despite U.S. efforts to restrict South Korean manufacturers’ access to American equipment, Samsung and SK Hynix continue investing hundreds of millions of dollars in China. This allows them to stay competitive, expand NAND memory and DRAM production, and prepare for future demand growth, especially in artificial intelligence.