Memory chip maker to build $4 billion plant in West Lafayette, Wall Street Journal reports
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — South Korea’s SK Hynix, the second largest memory chip maker in the world, plans to invest roughly $4 billion into building an advanced chip-packaging facility here, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday morning.
SK Hynix facility is expected to build near Purdue University and create 800 to 1,000 new jobs for the area with operations potentially starting in 2028, according to the Wall Street Journal report.
SK Hynix currently operates as Nvidia's exclusive partner, developing high-bandwidth memory for advanced graphic processor units, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Over the last five years, Nvidia’s stock evaluation exploded, going from $44 a share to now almost $943 a share. This is in large part due to the company’s pivot into developing products and tools for AI software development, according to a Journal & Courier review of Nvidia's stock prices.
The Journal & Courier reached out to local officials and Purdue University to confirm the validity of The Wall Street Journal's report, but no one has commented so far.
However, unnamed sources say a big economic development announcement is coming next week.
Greater Lafayette's investment in semiconductors and AI development
This news follows a trend of Purdue and the Greater Lafayette area courting and investing in the semiconductor industry.
The Purdue Research Foundation requested last month that the West Lafayette City Council annex two parcels of land in the area west of Tippecanoe County Road 100 West and south of Shining Armor Lane. The council adopted the resolution, bringing the approximately 60 acres into the city boundaries. Leadership at Purdue Research Foundation did not comment on what the land might be used for, noting that it had not been decided yet.
In January, Purdue University received two $50 million grants from the Lilly Endowment, one of which was used to help fund the university’s Purdue Computes initiative.
The university also used $20 million to for its Birck Nanotechnology Center, $20 million to launch the Institute for Physical Artificial Intelligence and $10 million to increase brain gain in Indiana, with enhanced workforce development efforts in the areas of semiconductors and physical AI.
The news of SK Hynix’s potential facility comes almost two years after SkyWater Technology announced plans to build a $1.8 billion state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing facility in Purdue Research Foundation's Discovery Park District. The SkyWater Technology facility received funding from the federal CHIPS Act.
The SK Hynix’s chip-packaging facility is expected to be funded through a mix of state and federal tax incentives, according to The Wall Street Journal's report.
In 2022, Purdue and Greater Lafayette officials announced that $5 million it received from the state’s READI projects would help fund a Purdue-Ivy Tech Community College partnership on the Semiconductors Workforce Development Project.
According to the Semiconductors Workforce Development Project's description, "(This project serves) to develop the talent pipeline of high school and college students and increase technician and engineer training to support the region’s semiconductor industry."
Over the last few years, Purdue University has heavily invested in developing a number of semiconductor and microelectronics-engineering programs, in turn becoming one of the nation’s leading universities in this field.
Last year, Purdue Polytechnic’s School of Engineering Technology unveiled its Smart Manufacturing Labs, the United States' first and largest smart learning factory.
Investment in the Greater Lafayette Area
Last month, leaders from Lafayette, West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County and Purdue University met to discuss the future growth of the region and how they want to achieve "sustainable growth."
Local leaders highlighted how the region had become attractive to investors over the years, in large part due to the community’s investment and support of the semiconductor industry.
“As a community or as a state, you’re either growing or you’re regressing. There is no just staying the same and treading water,” Roswarski said at the state of the cities and county event. “That doesn’t exist in a global economy, with the speed of development and the speed of AI.”
Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on X at 1NoePadilla
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Chip maker SK Hynix to build $4B plant in West Lafayette, WSJ reports
