SK Hynix has broken ground on a $4 billion advanced memory packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana, as the South Korean chipmaker expands its US manufacturing footprint to serve AI data centers. The company is also weighing a separate NAND memory plant in the US through its subsidiary Solidigm, though no final investment decision has been made.
Indiana HBM packaging plant
SK Hynix broke ground on the Indiana facility on August 27, 2026. The site covers 133 acres and represents an investment exceeding $4 billion. It is SK Hynix’s first high-bandwidth memory packaging operation in the US and is designed to handle HBM for AI applications.
A cleanroom is slated for completion by October 2028, with volume production of next-generation HBM4E chips forecast for the second half of 2029. When fully operational, the facility is expected to create approximately 1,000 jobs. It will work alongside SK Hynix’s existing wafer production in South Korea rather than replace it.
The Indiana project is receiving up to $458 million in support from the CHIPS Act.
NAND plant under study
SK Hynix’s NAND effort runs through Solidigm, its US subsidiary. Solidigm had been studying whether to build a dedicated NAND flash fabrication plant in the US, with upstate New York emerging as a leading candidate as of September 2026. As of late October 2026, no final investment decision on that plant had been made, and the site, cost, and timeline have not been confirmed.
The project is also tied to a separate question involving US approvals for equipment shipments to Solidigm’s existing facility in Dalian, China. Those approvals are linked to funding the company’s US operations during a period of global memory shortages.
Shortage outlook
SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung has said the current memory chip shortage may persist until the end of 2030. Indiana’s volume production is not expected until the second half of 2029, and the NAND facility has not reached a confirmed investment decision, making near-term relief from these projects unlikely.
The NAND plant’s link to the Dalian equipment approvals suggests future deals may involve trade and export considerations alongside direct subsidies. If US approvals for equipment shipments to Solidigm’s China facility are part of how the company funds its American expansion, any shift in that regulatory stance could affect the New York decision.
