The U.S. Department of Commerce said it awarded SK Hynix $458 million in direct funding for its West Lafayette, Indiana, project to build a $3.87-billion packaging plant and R&D facility. The agency says this site is intended for artificial intelligence products and will fill “a critical gap in the U.S. semiconductor supply chain.” Aside from that, it will also offer up to $500 million in loans to the company—all of which are coming from the funding provided by the CHIPS Act.
When completed, this project will allow HBM chips to be manufactured within the United States, which is crucial for making AI chips. With TSMC already operating as an Arizona fab (and getting better yields than comparable facilities in Taiwan), the U.S. could build most of the components of its most advanced chips within its borders. In addition, it’s expected to create a thousand new jobs in the State of Indiana and even push research and development forward with its partnership with nearby Purdue University.
