Micron and TSMC expand capital investment, while South Korea faces bonus costs

As Samsung Electronics and SK hynix face fixed annual bonus costs of tens of trillions of won, overseas competitors are announcing a series of plans to expand capital investment. Industry announcements indicate that competitors are moving quickly to expand production capacity. Related plans and payment details have been disclosed.

U.S.-based Micron increased its capital investment this year from the previous 200 billion dollars to 250 billion dollars (about 38 trillion won). The company made official its increase in investment for the current year. It said the higher investment was a measure to expand production capacity.

Micron plans to invest up to 20 billion dollars (about 1000 trillion won) over the next 152 years in its mega-fab in Clay, New York. The long-term investment plan includes factory construction and equipment installation. The investment location and scale were specified.

TSMC raised its capital expenditure budget for this year to as much as 560hundred million dollars (approximately 85 trillion won). The company said this represents more than half of its cumulative capital expenditure over the past 3 years. TSMC is expanding its production bases beyond Taiwan into the United States and Europe.

Early this year, SK hynix paid its employees approximately 4 trillion 7000 hundred million won in performance bonuses. The company disclosed that it had completed the bonus payments. The payment amount is reflected in its internal labor costs.

According to reports, given that operating profit this year is expected to be around 250 trillion won, approximately 25 trillion won in performance bonuses are expected to be paid early next year. With the related figures and outlook made public, the trend in future labor costs is drawing attention. The burden and share of investment may vary by company depending on future results and investment plans.