SK Hynix Reports Second Fire Incident This Month, Assures Production Unaffected

Reports indicate that a fire broke out again at the M15X factory in the fourth industrial complex of SK Hynix in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, South Korea, at 9:55 AM on June 12. According to the notification, the fire self-extinguished after the plant's sprinkler system activated. The incident resulted in no casualties, but over 4,000 employees were urgently evacuated as a safety precaution.

SK Hynix has preliminarily determined that the accident occurred during gas-related operations. The company is currently investigating the exact cause of the fire, whether there was a gas leak, and the potential impact of this incident on production equipment.

This marks the second safety incident at the facility this month, occurring just 11 days after a fire on June 1.

On June 12, SK Hynix responded to inquiries, stating that the initial situation has been brought under control, a detailed investigation is underway, and production equipment is operating normally.

The M15X facility is a core production base for SK Hynix, specifically dedicated to manufacturing HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) and advanced DRAM chips. It is a key site for the company in meeting the demand for AI chips.

Previously, on the morning of June 1, a fire occurred in a sixth-floor gas room connecting the M15 and M15X factory buildings, leading to a fluorine gas leak. That incident resulted in seven workers being hospitalized for treatment, the evacuation of more than 3,600 employees, and caused alarm among nearby residents. Earlier, on May 27, the M11 factory also triggered an evacuation due to equipment abnormalities.

SK Hynix is one of the world's top three memory chip giants and holds the leading market share for HBM chips. According to Counterpoint data, as a core HBM supplier for NVIDIA, SK Hynix held a 58% global HBM market share in the first quarter, with Samsung and Micron each holding a 21% share.

On June 2, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won revealed to media at the Computex exhibition in Taipei that its memory chip subsidiary, SK Hynix, plans to double its wafer production capacity within five years.

At the time of reporting, SK Hynix shares were up more than 9%.