American Made: SK Hynix To Build A $3.9B AI Chip Packaging Plant In The US
SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung said that “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 United States that will help strengthen supply-chain resilience and develop a local semiconductor ecosystem.”
The CHIPS and Science Act, signed by President Biden in 2022, played a role in this project becoming a reality. United States Senator Todd Young acknowledged its importance, saying that it “opened a door that Indiana has been able to sprint through, and companies like SK hynix are helping to build our high-tech future.”
Once complete, the facility will work on producing next-generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) that are key in powering AI workloads such as ChatGPT. The company is scheduling for mass production to being in the latter half of 2028. SK hynix says that it expects that “new facility will also develop future generations of chips and house an advanced packaging R&D line.”
Purdue University will be an important collaborator in future R&D. SK hynix will work with Purdue’s Birck Nanotechnology Center on heterogeneous integration, advanced packaging, and memory-centric solutions. Purdue University and Ivy Tech Community College will also work to ensure that there is a talent rich pipeline ready for SK hynix to tap into to help staff this upcoming facility.
This is a big win for the state of Indiana and the United States, as the country looks to build out projects necessary for a home-grown semiconductor industry. Hopefully more and more of these projects start to pop up throughout the country.
