SK hynix eyes second US factory after NASDAQ listing

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has raised the prospect of a second US factory, signaling additional American investment on the heels of SK hynix's NASDAQ listing.

If SK hynix builds a front-end memory production facility in addition to the advanced packaging plant already under construction in West Lafayette, Indiana, it would establish a fully integrated local manufacturing operation in the United States.

The company has already unveiled a 1,100 trillion won ($730 billion) semiconductor investment plan spanning Yongin, Gwangju and Cheongju in Korea, meaning any additional US commitment would set off large-scale investment projects running simultaneously in both countries.

With major global AI customers concentrated on American soil, a stronger US supply chain would both deepen those relationships and help ease mounting pressure from the Trump administration for chipmakers to produce locally — making the details of any future investment plan a closely watched question.

In a CNBC interview Thursday (local time) to mark SK hynix's American depositary receipt listing on NASDAQ, Chey said the company is "reviewing additional investment beyond the advanced packaging facility in Indiana" and added that building a memory production factory is possible "if conditions such as power, water, labor and supply chains are in place."

SK hynix is investing $3.87 billion to build an advanced packaging factory for AI memory in West Lafayette, Indiana. The facility is scheduled to begin mass-producing next-generation high-bandwidth memory and other AI memory chips in the second half of 2028.

The West Lafayette plant has drawn attention as SK hynix's first US production facility and as a symbolic response to the Trump administration's push for chipmakers to manufacture on American soil.

If Chey follows through and adds a memory production facility on top of the packaging plant, SK hynix's total US investment would grow to hundreds of trillions of won.

Because the funds raised through the NASDAQ listing are earmarked entirely for production facilities in Korea, how the company would finance any additional US investment is expected to become a key question going forward.

Chey's remarks have drawn added attention alongside comments made Thursday (local time) by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at a concrete-pouring ceremony for Micron's New York fab, where Lutnick said he wants "to bring Samsung and SK hynix to the United States to build production facilities."

Lutnick said at the event that "President Trump has made clear that America is the best place to build a business. The Trump economic model makes abundantly clear that now is the perfect time to invest in America."

The remarks were widely interpreted as indirect pressure on Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, both of which recently announced semiconductor investment plans in Korea that exceed the scale of their US commitments.

Lutnick had already caused a stir in January at the groundbreaking for Micron's New York fab, when he threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on foreign-made memory chips — a warning that Korean chipmakers without US production facilities could face steep duties on their exports.

Building memory chip factories in the United States is seen as significantly less profitable than doing so in Korea, given higher labor costs, depreciation and other operating expenses.

Nevertheless, with Lutnick repeatedly using Micron's domestic investment as leverage to press Korean chipmakers, additional US investment is widely seen as unavoidable if Samsung Electronics and SK hynix want to escape the threat of memory tariffs.

Nomura Securities said in a report published earlier this year that the existing US investment commitments from Samsung Electronics and SK hynix would be insufficient to offset the impact of memory tariffs. The brokerage estimated that the two companies would each need to invest about 30 trillion won annually to expand US production capacity and upgrade equipment between 2030 and 2035.

Additional US investment by SK hynix is seen as an effective response not only to the Trump administration's "Made in USA" pressure but also as a way to manage local customer relationships and stabilize the supply chain. SK hynix's US sales in the first quarter of this year approached 34 trillion won, accounting for about 65 percent of its total revenue.

SK hynix's HBM chips are shipped to TSMC's foundry facilities in Taiwan, where they are packaged together with Nvidia's GPUs. The finished Nvidia AI accelerators are then supplied to the AI data centers of major US technology companies.

With TSMC expanding its local production capacity through its Arizona factories, analysts say a further US investment by SK hynix would significantly strengthen the Nvidia-centered triangle alliance on American soil.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also spotlighted SK hynix's Indiana factory during his keynote address at GTC 2025 in Washington, D.C. last October, championing what he called the return of American manufacturing.

"The first thing President Trump asked me was to bring manufacturing back," Huang said. "We are manufacturing in America again."

Once SK hynix's HBM is produced locally in the United States, its "America First" standing in the semiconductor sector — alongside TSMC's Arizona operations — will only grow stronger.