[News] Memory Giants’ China Investments Soar in 2025: Samsung Xi’an Up 67%, SK hynix Wuxi, Dalian Hit Trillion-Won
Amid soaring memory demand, Samsung and SK hynix are accelerating expansion not just at home, but also in China. Citing their newly released 2025 business reports via SeDaily, Samsung boosted investment in its Xi’an plant by 67.5% year-on-year, while SK hynix poured over 1 trillion won into its Wuxi DRAM fab and Dalian NAND flash subsidiary last year.
According to Samsung’s 2025 business report, cited by SeDaily, the company ramped up investment in its Xi’an plant to 465.4 billion won last year, marking a 67.5% jump from 277.8 billion won in 2024. Meanwhile, Samsung (China) Semiconductor Co. is also seeing strong momentum in 2025 against the backdrop of aggressive expansion, with annual revenue reaching approximately 8.64 trillion won and net profit climbing to 1.11 trillion won.
The move marks a notable shift. As SeDaily highlights, Samsung had largely held back on major investments in its Xi’an plant from 2020 to 2023, following an initial outlay of about 698.4 billion won in 2019.
Now, facing surging global demand that domestic capacity alone cannot absorb, the company is stepping up efforts. With fresh investment, Samsung plans to upgrade its Xi’an NAND facility from 128 layers (6th generation) to 236 layers (8th generation), while targeting 400-layer (10th generation) NAND production at home in 2026, the report says.
Underscoring China’s role as a key NAND production hub for Samsung, TrendForce estimates the country accounted for roughly 30–35% of the company’s total NAND output in 2025.
SK hynix Boosts China Plants, Wuxi DRAM Goes High-Value
Meanwhile, as noted by SeDaily, SK hynix invested over 1 trillion won last year in its DRAM plant in Wuxi and its NAND flash subsidiary in Dalian. According to its Business report, the Wuxi DRAM plant alone received 581 billion won, a 102% increase from 287.3 billion won in 2024, while the Dalian NAND facility saw a 52% rise to 440.6 billion won. This marks SK hynix’s first trillion-won-scale investment in its Chinese plants since acquiring Intel’s Dalian NAND plant in 2022, the report notes.
Both facilities remain critical production hubs for SK hynix. According to TrendForce, China accounted for roughly 40–45% of the company’s total NAND output in 2025, as well as around 35–40% of its DRAM production.
Interestingly, the JoongAng Ilbo reports that SK hynix’s equipment investment in its Chinese semiconductor plants grew tenfold in 2025 compared with the previous year. This reflects efforts to optimize production facilities within China while staying within the scope of U.S. sanctions, including sending equipment from Korean plants to China and moving aging equipment within China back to South Korea, the report adds.
Notably, about 90% of last year’s equipment transactions were concentrated at SK hynix’s Wuxi DRAM plant, JoongAng Ilbo suggests. Separately, SeDaily notes that SK hynix’s recent investments have upgraded the Wuxi plant’s DRAM process from 1z to 1a, paving the way for mass production of higher-value products such as DDR5 and supporting stronger earnings.
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(Photo credit: SK hynix)
