SK Hynix In Talks To Acquire Korea's 8-Inch Chip Maker Key Foundry

Memory chipmaker SK Hynix Inc HXSCL is in talks to acquire South Korean chip contract manufacturer Key Foundry, which specializes in 8-inch wafers following its foundry business shift to China and growing 8-inch foundry facilities’ crisis, Reuters reports based on Korea Economic Daily.
Key Foundry was established in September 2020 after MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp MX sold its Cheongju-based foundry facility for $450 million (510 billion won) to private equity firms Alchemist Partners and Gravity Private Equity led consortium in March 2020.
SK Hynix has acquired a minority stake in Key Foundry for $181.93 million (207 billion won) via the PE fund.
SK Hynix could inject over an additional 400 billion won to take over the MagnaChip spin-off.
Presently, SK Hynix operates its foundry business via subsidiary SK Hynix System IC, which recently moved its 8-inch wafer facilities from the Cheongju plant in Korea to Wuxi, China. The foundry produces around 100,000 wafers per month.
Key Foundry has a monthly production capacity of 82,000 wafers.
Interestingly, Key Foundry shares some resources like industrial water and power with SK Hynix’s Cheongju-based factory.
Last week, SK Hynix had disclosed its plans of doubling its chip contract manufacturing capacity that could include M&A.