Micron Technology has announced plans to invest $50 billion in two massive new memory wafer fabrication plants in Boise, Idaho, with the first factory expected to begin wafer manufacturing operations by 2027. Additionally, Micron is developing a $100 billion industrial park in Clay, New York, which could accommodate up to four wafer fabs.

SK hynix is also advancing its first U.S. factory, with the project expected to be completed by 2028. This $4 billion facility in West Lafayette, Indiana, will focus on chip packaging and testing, specifically handling memory stacking and circuit assembly, rather than wafer front-end manufacturing.

Beyond the Indiana project, SK hynix has already established a U.S. presence. In 2020, the company acquired Intel's NAND flash memory business for $9 billion, eventually forming subsidiary Solidigm, headquartered near Sacramento, California. In January of this year, SK hynix completed a business restructuring of this segment, establishing a $10 billion U.S. subsidiary focused on AI operations, though no wafer front-end manufacturing projects have been planned yet.

Discussing the plan to build chip factories in the U.S., Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK hynix, stated that the company has spent over a month surveying potential sites. "I am committed to advancing U.S. factory construction, but the key is finding the right location," he said.

Chey also noted that the memory industry is at a turning point: the next-generation technology iteration of custom HBM for clients will effectively hedge against the operational risks associated with SK hynix's massive expansion investments. Custom HBM now requires co-design and development with AI processors, and with the arrival of the next-generation HBM5 technology, this industry trend is accelerating further.

"Nvidia wants exclusive chips, and Google needs tailored HBM products. Memory chips are no longer standardized commodities," Chey said. "This fundamentally changes the industry's nature and market positioning of memory chips."