SK hynix on Thursday formally launched its advanced chip packaging project in Indiana, a facility that will produce the first high bandwidth memory (HBM) manufactured in the United States.

The groundbreaking ceremony took place at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, more than two years after the company announced the investment in April 2024. The plant is expected to complete its clean room in October 2028 and begin mass production in the third quarter of 2029.

Once operational, the facility will take DRAM chips produced in Korea and stack and package them into HBM, the high-performance memory used alongside processors such as Nvidia's AI accelerators. Advanced packaging, long treated as a lower-margin back-end step in chipmaking, has become a critical link in the AI hardware chain as accelerator demand has strained global capacity for stacking and interconnecting memory chips. SK hynix leads the global HBM market, ahead of Samsung Electronics and Micron, the world's only other major producers of the memory type. SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung said the plant will have capacity to process several hundreds of thousands of DRAM wafers per year.

"Here in Indiana, we will build the first HBM advanced packaging facility in the US," Kwak said. "We will provide our customers with a new source of 'Made-in-US HBM,' while strengthening the US semiconductor supply chain and contributing to national and economic security."

Kwak added that the company will collaborate with customers, universities and business partners to develop next-generation packaging technologies, accelerating prototype development and performance validation.

SK Inc. Vice Chairman and SK Americas CEO Yu Jeong-joon thanked partners for supporting the Indiana project and highlighted SK Group's broader US investment footprint across semiconductors, energy and advanced technologies.

"SK has built a strong presence in semiconductors, energy and advanced technologies," Yu said. "Our investments and assets in the US are expected to exceed $45 billion by 2030. We believe these capabilities can come together to help build and power America's next generation of AI infrastructure."

SK hynix also signed a memorandum of understanding with Purdue University to expand cooperation on next-generation HBM research and testing and to draw on the university's engineering talent. The plant is being built on Purdue-owned land in West Lafayette.

The groundbreaking comes as the Trump administration pushes chipmakers to expand production on American soil. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last month called for more domestic memory-chip manufacturing during an event marking construction progress at Micron Technology's planned megafab in New York.

In total, the memory chip maker plans to invest more than $4 billion in the Indiana facility. Under the CHIPS and Science Act, the US government agreed to provide up to $458 million in direct funding and $500 million in loans. The project also aligns with a broader US push to rebuild advanced packaging, a segment of the chip supply chain that remains heavily concentrated in East Asia; the CHIPS Act set aside roughly $3 billion for a dedicated national advanced packaging manufacturing program.

Bill Frauenhofer, executive director of Semiconductor Investment and Innovation at the US Commerce Department, which oversees the CHIPS program, said the Indiana project would strengthen US capabilities in advanced semiconductor packaging and research.

"This project and the R&D hub represent an important opportunity not only to bring cutting-edge capabilities to the United States, but to help develop the innovations that will define what comes next," Frauenhofer said. "By establishing those capabilities here in Indiana, SK hynix is helping strengthen America's position at a critical point in the global semiconductor supply chain."

The Indiana plant will combine advanced HBM packaging with research and development for future generations of the memory technology. SK hynix is currently producing HBM4, its sixth-generation HBM product, which is set to be used in Nvidia's Vera Rubin AI platform, while developing its successor, HBM4E. Demand for HBM has risen sharply with the buildout of AI data centers, making it the memory industry's fastest-growing product segment.

Construction began in April, months ahead of Thursday's formal ceremony. Structural frames and columns are already rising at the roughly 540,000-square-meter site.

About 1,000 people are expected to work at the facility once it is fully operational. SK hynix is also considering more than 100 potential suppliers for materials, components and equipment, with the broader project expected to create about 7,000 direct and indirect jobs across construction, operations and the local supply chain.

SK Group also joined a hiring initiative for former US service members stationed in Korea, offering career opportunities through a platform run by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Korea-US Alliance Foundation. The partnership also highlighted Indiana's ties to Korea, with about 140,000 troops from the state having served in the Korean War.

Korean Ambassador to the US Kang Kyung-wha, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana joined Kwak and other company executives at Thursday's ceremony. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, whose possible attendance had drawn attention ahead of the event, were not present.

Source: Korea Herald Business