SK Hynix and Intel Are Talking About Making Memory Chips in the US
The South Korean chip giant is exploring a deal to manufacture RAM inside American borders for the first time, possibly by leasing space inside Intel's Ohio factory.
Key points
- SK Hynix and Intel are in early discussions about manufacturing memory chips on US soil for the first time, according to Reuters.
- One option would have SK Hynix lease space at Intel's planned Ohio factory; a joint venture involving cloud providers is also on the table.
- SK Hynix confirmed talks are ongoing but said no plans have been finalised as of this week.
- SK Hynix is already spending $3.8 billion on a chip packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana, with production targeted for 2029.
- South Korea's government may review any deal that touches strategically sensitive chip technology.
SK Hynix, the South Korean company that makes the memory chips powering most of today's AI data centres, is in talks with Intel about building RAM chips inside the United States for the first time. Reuters broke the story; SK Hynix confirmed the conversations to TechCrunch on Wednesday but stressed nothing is agreed.
"SK Hynix is exploring various options to strengthen its global competitiveness, but no specific plans or arrangements have been finalised at this time," the company said.
What exactly are the two companies considering?
Two options are on the table. The leasing arrangement would have SK Hynix rent floor space inside Intel's Ohio factory and run its own production lines there. The joint-venture route goes further, potentially drawing in major cloud providers, the companies that run server farms behind services like ChatGPT.
It's not yet clear which memory type SK Hynix would make in Ohio. Its Indiana facility, due in 2029, will take DRAM wafers made in South Korea and package them into HBM, high-bandwidth memory, the specialised RAM that AI chips need to process large amounts of data quickly. Ohio would be something different, though the details aren't settled. We covered SK Hynix's broader factory ambitions on 16 August in "Inside the $720 Billion Memory Factory Race Fuelling the AI Boom".
| Facility | Location | Investment | Expected start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Packaging and R&D plant | West Lafayette, Indiana | $3.8 billion | 2029 |
| Potential chip fab (under discussion) | Ohio (Intel site) | Not disclosed | Not set |
Why does this matter to ordinary people?
Memory chips are invisible to most of us. They sit inside the servers running AI tools, the phones in our pockets, the laptops on our desks. But where they're made has become a political and economic fight.
The Trump administration is pushing companies to build chips in America, dangling tariff relief for domestic investment and threatening steeper import taxes on chips made abroad. We reported on a related tariff move on 7 August. SK Hynix's chairman publicly backed US production in July, and the company listed its American depositary receipts, essentially shares available to US investors, on the Nasdaq that same month.
Production inside the US would, in theory, mean a more stable supply of the chips that keep AI services running. Whether it translates to lower prices for consumers is a longer conversation.
There's one real snag worth watching: South Korea's government may step in. Under Korean law, any transfer of strategically sensitive chip technology overseas can trigger a government review. Seoul has said the decision belongs to SK Hynix, but that process could slow or reshape a final deal.
The two companies aren't strangers. In 2020, SK Hynix bought Intel's NAND flash memory business, a different type of storage chip, for $9 billion.
Intel didn't respond to a request for comment.
The honest read: this is a story about early-stage talks shaped heavily by tariff pressure, not a done deal. Watch for whether a formal agreement or a government review comes first.
