SK Hynix headquarters in South Korea (File photo)
The US government said on Tuesday it plans to provide SK Hynix Inc., the world’s leading high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chipmaker, up to $450 million in grants to help fund its AI chip complex in Indiana.
The Department of Commerce said it and SK Hynix signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) for the financial support to establish aN HBM advanced packaging fabrication and research and development (R&D) facility in the State of Indiana.
The department also plans to make available $500 million in government loans under the PMT for the company’s $3.9 billion project, which is expected to qualify for a 25% investment tax credit.
“We deeply appreciate the US Department of Commerce’s support and are excited to collaborate in seeing this transformational project fully realized,” said SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung in a statement issued by the department.
(File photo by SK Hynix)
TO MOVE FORWARD CONSTRUCTION
SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, in April unveiled a plan to establish an advanced HBM packaging complex in West Layfayette for mass production in the second half of 2028, which would be the first of its kind in the US and the company’s first overseas plant for the core chip in powering AI devices.
The US government’s financial support is expected to accelerate the establishment of the complex.
The South Korean supplier to Nvidia Corp. aims to cement its HBM leadership through the facility, which is expected to focus on developing new models and cooperating with partners, while fostering local semiconductor talent.
“We are moving forward with the construction of the Indiana production base, working with the State of Indiana, Purdue University and our US business partners to ultimately supply leading-edge AI memory products from West Lafayette,” Kwak said.
By Jeong-Soo Hwang
hjs@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.
