SK hynix has answered a Reuters report that it is negotiating with Intel to make memory chips in the United States for the first time with a statement that denies nothing except that anything has been decided.
Reuters' reporting, as republished by Euronext Live, cites three people familiar with the discussions and describes two structures: SK hynix leasing part of Intel's long-planned Ohio site, or a venture with Intel and large cloud companies that want to lock in memory supply. One source called the talks exploratory, and Reuters could not learn which chips would be made there.
The company's own newsroom page restates both scenarios and then draws the line. "SK hynix is exploring various options to strengthen its global competitiveness, but no specific plans or arrangements have been finalized at this time." And: "No decisions have been made regarding the two scenarios mentioned in the article." Read it for what it does not say: there is no denial that talks are taking place, only that they have produced a decision. A company with nothing to discuss usually says so in fewer words.
Its page closes with the sentence that will be quoted back at it if a deal lands: "We would like to clarify that nothing has been finalized regarding cooperation with any specific companies mentioned in the article or memory chip production in the United States." Reuters' account, via Euronext Live, has SK hynix telling the agency it is reviewing measures including additional production bases, and has Intel declining to comment on what it called speculation while saying its Ohio investment continues. Intel did not respond to TechCrunch either.
Ohio is the part to weigh. Reuters' text puts Intel's 2022 announcement at up to $100 billion for the complex, with completion of its two plants now pushed to 2030 and 2031. A lease on part of a fab that is itself years from completion is a site option, not capacity.
That pressure is the real story. The Reuters text describes an administration pushing chipmakers to build in the United States as AI investment tightens memory supply, and a Commerce Secretary threatening tariffs of up to 100 percent on South Korean and Taiwanese companies that do not commit to American production. South Korea's trade ministry told Reuters that any plan involving a national core technology would face review under the Industrial Technology Protection Act. TechCrunch notes SK hynix's only US site is a $3.8 billion packaging and research facility in West Lafayette, Indiana, due to start mass production in 2029 by packaging Korean-made DRAM wafers into HBM. Packaging in Indiana and fabricating in Ohio are different acts, and the second is the one Seoul reviews.
Cost cuts the other way. Two of Reuters' sources say making chips in the United States costs much more than in South Korea, on labour, construction and a supply chain that sits in Asia. Reuters' text reports Intel up 5.2 percent in pre-market trading and SK hynix closing 4.1 percent higher in Seoul. SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won said in July, per both Reuters and TechCrunch, that the company should build a factory in the United States if it can, the month SK hynix listed its American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq. The chairman has stated the direction; the new statement is about counterparty and timetable, and on both it commits to nothing.
Bootnote: the two companies have transacted before. TechCrunch notes that Intel sold its NAND flash business to SK hynix for $9 billion in 2020, so a memory maker leasing space from Intel would be the relationship running in reverse.
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