South Korea’s SK Hynix Plans Semiconductor Plant in Miyagi — 5ch: ‘Because Minimum Wage Is Cheaper Than Korea’s’

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South Korean semiconductor giant SK Hynix is reportedly considering building a semiconductor plant worth several trillion yen in Miyagi Prefecture, according to Korean media. If realized, it would reportedly be the first case of a large-scale production investment in Japan by a Korean company.

On 5ch, discussion centered on the fact that Miyagi’s minimum wage is lower than South Korea’s, concerns about government subsidies for attracting factories, the severe labor shortage, and how Japan fell behind in the semiconductor industry.

Nippon TV News NNN

Korean media report that South Korean semiconductor giant SK Hynix is considering a plan to invest several trillion yen to build a semiconductor plant in Miyagi Prefecture.

South Korea’s Hankyoreh newspaper reported on the 21st that SK Hynix is considering a plan to build a memory semiconductor production plant in Miyagi Prefecture, which has been actively courting major global semiconductor companies. The plan reportedly involves tens of trillions of won — several trillion yen — and if realized, would be the first case of a large-scale investment by a Korean semiconductor company to build a production base in Japan.

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

5Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 13:51:41.17ID:8O6n5azu0
We're finally in an era where Japanese companies could actually turn a profit manufacturing in Japan again — and they're just going to sit there twiddling their thumbs watching?
54Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:00:45.82ID:L8epFb7X0
>>5
What about the workers though?
There seriously aren't any people to hire.
62Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:01:50.01ID:2CGHHehv0
>>5
Unfortunately, Japanese executives are incompetent.
92Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:05:14.59ID:DL1xfIvL0
>>5
No executive at a Japanese company is capable of making a call like that.
15Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 13:54:11.32ID:ri2pcI0s0
Why would anyone deliberately pick Miyagi, which gets hit by major earthquakes on a regular basis?
And on top of that, there's a labor shortage there.
35Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 13:57:43.37ID:QfWW8TkL0
>>15
Because the Japanese government covers half the cost of building the plant.
Not sure if that program's even still running, but that's exactly what TSMC and Micron were after too.
228Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:19:26.43ID:zcnf+q+10
>>15
They'll probably just recruit workers in Korea and bring them over.
22Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 13:56:17.90ID:pMaB6YKX0
>>1
Well, it's because Miyagi Prefecture's minimum wage (¥1,098 from October) is cheaper than South Korea's minimum wage (¥1,170) lol



South Korea's minimum wage for next year has been set at 10,700 won per hour (about ¥1,170). This will be the minimum wage applied to roughly 22 million wage workers nationwide.

South Korea's minimum wage next year: 10,700 won — up 3.7% from this year
7/15 (Wed)
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/219edd8315e9380fe2e37c5e361d4c9c240a9607
64Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:02:02.16ID:cHAF691H0
>>22
Whoa, lower than Korea's.
We're gonna get laughed at.
113Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:06:49.12ID:5DxSxY1X0
>>22
Amazing, big brother Korea!
You can really tell your per-capita GDP beats Japan's, big brother Korea! (sarcastic mock-praise, a running 5ch bit)
52Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:00:09.72ID:Z471K3Lc0
SK Hynix: nothing has been decided about building a plant in Japan — per official documents
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/395f5d540a48d1ec7b5c04d8aa48a1a70a4dd7c7
57Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:01:17.12ID:t7wspo5+0
>>52
Classic "just considering it, not decided" story, right on schedule.
58Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:01:19.43ID:RPVs/Cec0
>>52
Apparently it's just a decoy to squeeze subsidies out of their own government lol
117Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:07:28.00ID:y83of4WZ0
Why did Japan's semiconductor industry end up losing out?
128Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:08:43.55ID:e+ylPDB50
>>117
Exhibit A: the Japan-US Semiconductor Agreement
152Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:11:18.77ID:fdi30yP50
>>117
Japan dominated the world in memory chips but could never make advanced CPUs.
It failed to move the industry upmarket.
125Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:08:24.52ID:XiokOQAE0
Guess we've really become a lesser country than Taiwan and Korea now…
132Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:09:17.52ID:ii2Md9O80
>>125
Yeah, we're a cheap country now.
Japan, the empty wasteland that can't make anything.
209Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:16:59.79ID:DGCBqgDp0
>>125
Both Japan and the US are leaning on Taiwan and Korea now.
145Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:10:36.43ID:LjhTrgIi0
Is this the one people were calling Japan's real hope for semiconductors?
Kioxia and SK teaming up to do something big, they said.
155Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:11:33.73ID:ii2Md9O80
>>145
Even Kioxia, now a major Japanese company, looks like small fry standing next to SK. Wouldn't mind some of that luck rubbing off on us.
177Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:13:38.69ID:UIZCYtTc0
>>145
❎ Kioxia and SK Hynix [teaming up]
⭕ Kioxia coming under SK Hynix's umbrella
307Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:27:51.60ID:ZWVVZfM00
Japan has strength in semiconductor manufacturing equipment and related materials,
and Korean chipmakers
produce their chips by procuring those from Japan.

Per an explainer from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI),
semiconductor manufacturing equipment isn't just sold domestically —
exports to Taiwan, Korea, and China are growing strongly too.
322Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:29:21.10ID:gaGThHU50
>>307
Wasn't there an article about how Japan's share of the semiconductor equipment market keeps shrinking year after year?
315Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:28:20.80ID:Za/TjpQV0
Market capitalization (in yen)

¥800 trillion — Nvidia
¥772 trillion — Apple
¥670 trillion — Alphabet (Google)
¥444 trillion — Amazon
¥270 trillion — Microsoft
¥229 trillion — Tesla
¥190 trillion — Samsung
¥173 trillion — Micron
¥140 trillion — SK Hynix
¥45 trillion — Toyota
¥41 trillion — Mitsubishi UFJ
¥37 trillion — SanDisk
¥30 trillion — SoftBank Group
¥30 trillion — Kioxia
¥26 trillion — Advantest
¥25 trillion — Tokyo Electron
¥25 trillion — Sumitomo Mitsui FG

Japan's AI-semiconductor-related stocks are trading dirt cheap relative to their earnings.
323Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:29:22.75ID:rwfdkxzU0
>>315
No way! That's a whole different order of magnitude (* ̄ロ ̄)プッ
324Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:29:32.52ID:nnK4VULl0
>>315
Three times Toyota's value? That's just overwhelming.
332Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 14:30:17.19ID:S1TxUT8q0
>>315
That's insane.
It's even bigger than Toyota.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Newsflash+) thread “South Korea’s SK Hynix Considering Plan to Build Semiconductor Plant in Miyagi — Investment of Several Trillion Yen, Per Korean Media.”

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