The West Lafayette plant will focus on advanced chip packaging, a process involving stacking a number of smaller computer chips together to create one superchip.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you chose West Lafayette, you chose more than a location. You chose a community of innovators and learners where big ideas can start and reach the world,\u201d Easter, who spoke first, said. \u201cYou chose a partner that understands that lasting partnerships are built not simply around shared interests, but shared values.\u201d<\/p>\n
The facility is set to be just north of Purdue\u2019s campus by Kalberer and Yeager Roads, and the university is expected to be closely intertwined with the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a leading industrial affair with a leading university\u2026 and the synergy to come out of that is enormous,\u201d said the Korean ambassador to the US, Kang Kyung-wha.<\/p>\n
Young also mentioned professional opportunities for Purdue students in his speech.<\/p>\n
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Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (left), SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung (center) and Purdue Interim President Mitch Daniels (right) stand at the podium for the SK hynix chip facility groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Photo provided by Purdue University | Charles Jischke<\/p>\n
\u201cNow students will have a direct pathway from Purdue classrooms and laboratories into one of the most advanced semiconductor facilities in the world. The project will expand opportunities for internships, research partnerships, apprenticeships and high-skilled careers,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n
The road to this point has not been completely smooth sailing for SK hynix. The company and the Purdue Research Foundation \u2014 which was heavily involved in bringing SK hynix to West Lafayette \u2014 faced backlash from local residents after it emerged that the facility would go on land previously zoned as residential, near several neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
Despite the opposition, the West Lafayette City Council in May 2025 voted 6-3 to rezone the plot allowing SK hynix to move forward with the project.<\/p>\n
While there are still lawsuits ongoing regarding the rezoning and location of the chip facility, SK hynix has moved forward with initial site construction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis October, we plan to begin building key facilities,\u201d Noh-Jung said in his speech. \u201cOur goal is to have the clean room ready by October 2028, and we plan to begin volume production of next generation (high-bandwidth memory) in the second half of 2029. By 2030, Indiana is expected to become a key HBM production base in America.\u201d<\/p>\n
High-bandwidth memory is the type of memory chips SK hynix will assemble in West Lafayette. The project is expected to bring thousands of jobs to the state \u2014 something Braun touted in his speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndiana is where new opportunities of the AI era are being created with immediate economic impact and benefits for Hoosiers. Over 7,000 direct and indirect jobs are coming to this state on account of it,\u201d Braun said.<\/p>\n
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