Credit: Samuel Boivin via Shutterstock According to an exclusive Reuters report, based on information from three individuals involved in the talks, SK Hynix is negotiating a deal that would mark the first time the South Korean company manufactures memory chips in the United States. One possibility is for the company to lease part of Intel’s chip-making site in Ohio, and another is to form a joint venture with Intel and major cloud providers to secure a steady supply of memory. A source stated that no decisions had been reached, and SK Hynix told Reuters that it was looking at “a number of measures, including the establishment of further production bases”, but added that no agreement had been reached. Intel refused to comment on what it called speculation, although it said it is still investing in preparing its site in Ohio.
In July, Korea JoongAng Daily stated that SK Hynix was negotiating to buy the entire campus with a view to beginning front-end memory production within five years. According to Reuters, the arrangement would be either a lease or a joint venture, and in either case, the companies have not confirmed it. SK Hynix is also under pressure, according to a January Bloomberg report. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has stated that South Korean and Taiwanese chipmakers could face tariffs of up to 100% if they do not agree to establish operations in America.
The company holds a leading position in the high-bandwidth memory market, which involves stacked chips placed alongside AI processors, and demand from data centers has led to a memory shortage. The current US commitment refers only to the later stage of the process. SK Hynix is constructing a $4bn packaging plant in West Lafayette, Indiana, at which HBM will be packaged rather than manufactured. According to Reuters, producing the memory itself in the United States would be more expensive, as labor, construction, and the supplier base all add to the cost compared with production at home.
Although the South Korean Ministry of Trade stated that the final decision lies with the company, it added that a deal involving a ‘national core technology’ would be examined under the country’s Industrial Technology Protection Act. The investors responded promptly; according to Stocktwits, Intel increased by about 5% and the US-listed shares of SK Hynix by about 3% in overnight trading following the report. SK Hynix had added those US shares in July when it went public on the Nasdaq. Also tagged with
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