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SK Hynix Breaks Ground on $4 Billion Indiana HBM Packaging and AI R&D Campus

U.S. CHIPS Act funding will support packaging and research that assembles Korean-made DRAM dies into stacked memory to ease AI data‑center bottlenecks.

Overview

  • SK Hynix held a groundbreaking at Purdue Research Park on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, to start construction of a more-than-$4 billion campus for advanced packaging and AI semiconductor research.
  • The site will focus on packaging high-bandwidth memory stacks rather than wafer fabrication, taking DRAM dies shipped from SK Hynix fabs in South Korea and assembling them into HBM modules.
  • The company says cleanroom operations are scheduled to begin in the second half of 2028 and that mass production will follow, with a projected volume ramp for next-generation HBM4E in the second half of 2029 reported by company materials.
  • The project is backed by CHIPS Act support finalised in December 2024, including about $458 million in grants and up to $500 million in loans, and SK Hynix expects roughly 1,000 permanent Indiana jobs and up to 7,000 direct and indirect local roles in the supply chain.
  • The build strengthens SK Hynix’s global strategy by placing packaging and R&D close to major U.S. cloud and accelerator customers, preserves the company’s HBM market lead, and coexists with large wafer-fab investments the firm is making in South Korea.