A South Korean chip maker will build a $3.87 billion semiconductor plant in Indiana, locating the 430,000-square foot factory near Purdue University to tap into the school’s pipeline of college-educated workers and researchers.
South Korea-based SK hynix Inc., a major producer of High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips, announced plans to establish the new advanced packaging fabrication and R&D facility for high-intensity and AI microelectronic products and applications.
According to political leaders in Indiana, the investment is the first of its kind in the U.S. and is expected to drive innovation and fill a critical gap in the United States’ advanced packaging supply chain.
SK hynix said it selected the West Lafayette site due to Indiana’s resilient manufacturing infrastructure, its robust talent and R&D ecosystem, and the support provided by the state and local governments. Specifically, SK hynix is collaborating with Purdue University on plans for future R&D projects, building on the school’s identity as a major U.S. research institution, Purdue said.
Likewise, the company also plans to collaborate with Purdue University and Ivy Tech Community College to develop training programs and interdisciplinary degree curricula that will cultivate a high-tech workforce and build a reliable pipeline of new talent.
SK Hynix said its initial investment will establish the facility on 90 acres at the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette to support U.S. demand for semiconductors. The new facility will be home to an advanced semiconductor packaging production line that will mass produce next generation HBM, the highest-performing Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) chips, which are the critical components of graphic processing units (GPUs) that train AI systems. The facility will also develop future generations of chips and house an advanced packaging R&D line.
“We are excited to build a state-of-the-art advanced packaging facility in Indiana,” SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung said in a release. “We believe this project will lay the foundation for a new Silicon Heartland; a semiconductor ecosystem centered in the Midwest Triangle. This facility will create local, high-paying jobs and produce AI memory chips with unmatched capabilities, so that America can onshore more of its critical chip supply chain.”
