SK hynix (000660) has officially begun construction of its semiconductor production base in the United States, worth 5.7 trillion won. SK hynix's vision is to strengthen its leadership in the semiconductor industry by directly producing AI memory, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and supplying it to customers in the United States, where global Big Tech companies such as Nvidia are concentrated.
According to industry sources on the 21st, SK hynix began pile driving work on the 17th (local time) for an advanced semiconductor packaging plant to be built in West Lafayette, Indiana. Pile driving is foundation work that drives supporting piles into the ground. This marks the full-scale start of construction of the so-called Indiana fab, which SK hynix plans to build on a 560,000 ㎡ site at a cost of $3.87 billion (approximately 5.7 trillion won).
SK hynix plans to operate the Indiana fab in the second quarter of 2028, making it its first semiconductor production base in the United States. Through this, SK hynix will produce flagship products such as HBM in the US—following its Cheongju and Icheon fabs—and supply them directly to local Big Tech companies. Based on the schedule, the facility is expected to focus on producing next-generation HBM products, HBM4E and HBM5, which are set to be released after next year.
Domestically, SK hynix has also decided to build four ultra-large fabs at the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster and will begin operations sequentially starting with the first plant in February next year. Through this, the company aims to increase production of flagship products such as HBM to strengthen its response to market share competition with Samsung Electronics and Micron.
SK hynix has also launched "AI Company," a subsidiary dedicated to AI investment in the United States, and plans to expand its business beyond memory to overall AI solutions through cooperation with Big Tech companies.
