The materials, parts and equipment firms behind Korea’s memory output have been squeezed by high interest rates. The country’s second-largest chipmaker has decided to underwrite them directly.
SK hynix launched a KRW 2T, roughly $1.5B, financing programme with four commercial banks and a state trade insurer on Oct 19. Hana, KB Kookmin, Shinhan and Woori are participating alongside the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, which supplies the guarantees that let smaller suppliers borrow on better terms.
Chief executive Kwak Noh-jung signed the agreement at the Yongin cluster in Gyeonggi Province with industry minister Kim Jung-kwan. The ceremony also saw the first guarantee certificate issued to a supplier.
Why the chain needs help
Korean tool and materials makers compete against larger Japanese and US rivals without matching balance sheets. When rates rise they defer capacity work, and the deferral surfaces later as a bottleneck at the fab.
Eligible companies get higher loan limits and preferential rates, and the guarantee fees they would normally absorb are reduced. It covers small and midsized suppliers of materials, components and equipment.
The delegation also inspected the site for the Yongin cluster’s first fab plot and a production-linked facility known as Trinity Fab. That building is a joint investment of KRW 870B by the national government, local authorities and the memory maker, so small suppliers can test new processes on production-grade equipment rather than in a lab.
The programme arrives as Korean memory output is pushed to record levels on AI demand, with both domestic giants running fabs flat out and committing to capacity at home and in the US. Financing the sub-tier is the less visible half of that buildout, and Seoul has been assembling loan support, subsidies and land packages to keep equipment work onshore.
