SK Hynix and Intel explore the first US production of SK Hynix memory chips

SK Hynix is in early discussions with Intel about manufacturing memory chips in the United States. Options reported by The Information and Reuters include leasing part of Intel’s planned Ohio facility or creating a joint venture with Intel and large cloud customers. SK Hynix says no plan, partner or structure has been finalized.

The attraction is supply security. SK Hynix already plans a roughly $3.8bn Indiana facility for advanced packaging and research, but that plant would package DRAM wafers made in Asia into high-bandwidth memory. Ohio production could add the front-end wafer fabrication currently missing from its US chain.

The obstacles are equally concrete. US labour, construction and supplier costs are high; Intel’s Ohio schedule extends toward the end of the decade; and South Korea may review any transfer of nationally protected semiconductor technology. The talks therefore sit at the intersection of AI demand and industrial policy: cloud customers want assured memory supply, Washington wants domestic production, Intel wants utilization for an expensive fab, and Seoul does not want strategic manufacturing knowledge to migrate by default.