SK Hynix, the world’s leading producer of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used to speed the performance of AI chips, announced it will invest $3.9 billion near Purdue University in Indiana to build an advanced packaging facility. The company said the project—the first in the U.S.—will drive innovation in the nation’s AI supply chain.

SK Hynix’s new facility will include an advanced production line for next-generation HBM—critical components supporting GPUs that train AI systems like ChatGPT.

“We are excited to become the first in the industry to build a state-of-the-art advanced packaging facility for AI products in the U.S. that will help strengthen supply-chain resilience and develop a local semiconductor ecosystem,” SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung said in prepared comments. “With this new facility, we hope to advance our goal of providing AI memory chips with unmatched capabilities, serving the needs of our customers.”

The company is working with Purdue, one of the leading semiconductor schools in the U.S., on plans for future R&D projects, including advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration with Purdue’s Birck Nanotechnology Center. The partners hope to work on a project related to memory-centric solutions and architecture for the generative AI era, specifically system-level memory design and in/near-memory computing.

The company made the announcement with officials from the U.S. government, the Indiana government and Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The SK Hynix investment should attract more semiconductor manufacturing to the area, according to Purdue electronics engineering professor Mark Lundstrom.

“Once you get this started, it’s just going to build on itself,” Lundstrom told EE Times. “That’s what we’re looking for. SK Hynix is building a research lab here as well, and they’ll be strongly engaged in research with us and involved in the CHIPS Act R&D program. It isn’t only manufacturing. That’s exciting for the faculty and the grad students.”

SK Hynix is a key supplier of HBM to top AI chip designer Nvidia.

“There are a lot of other chip companies that are trying to chase Nvidia now,” Lundstrom said. “The market for HBM is going to explode.”

The company plans to start production from the facility in the second half of 2028, while developing future generations of chips. SK Hynix said Indiana’s resilient manufacturing infrastructure, R&D ecosystem and strong support from Purdue University helped clinch the deal.

Innovation in memory chips continues to drive lower-power operations and performance enhancements in computing. As chip scaling and other hardware improvements have hit limits, SK Hynix said its new chiplet-packaging technology has emerged as a promising way to continue enhancing density and performance. As heterogeneous integration tech becomes more important to the semiconductor industry, the project will help establish the region as a new semiconductor cluster centered in the area that will become a magnet for next-generation computing in the AI era, the company said.

“Today’s announcement should send a strong signal to other leaders in the semiconductor space,” U.S. Senator Todd Young of Indiana told EE Times at the event. Young, one of the key sponsors of the CHIPS Act, expects more companies to announce similar projects in his state.

“You heard it here,” Young said. “I’m not prepared to make any announcements here, but, it won’t surprise you that there have been some conversations. I’ll keep doing my part.”

You can watch our interview with Young from the LinkedIn post below:

Other companies have also recently made investments in advanced packaging in Indiana.

NHanced Semiconductors’ investment in hybrid bonding in southern Indiana will make the company one of the first in the U.S. to offer advanced packaging services, the company said.

In South Korea, SK Hynix said it has been working to prepare a site for the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, where it will invest ₩120 trillion ($89 billion) to build production facilities. The company did not disclose the timeframe for the investment. The company plans to break ground on the first fab in March of 2025, with plans for completion in early 2027. It will also build a mini fab, a facility with equipment for 300-mm wafer processing to test semiconductor materials, components and equipment.

 ----Form EE Times