SK Hynix and Intel in Early Talks Over First-Ever U.S. Memory Chip Production, Reuters Reports

SK Hynix is in exploratory talks with Intel about a deal that would have the South Korean company manufacture memory chips on U.S. soil for the first time, according to three people familiar with the discussions cited by Reuters. One source described the talks as exploratory and stressed that no decisions have been made, adding that SK Hynix might also consider other ways to structure any arrangement. Shares of both companies rose on the report, though the size of the move varied depending on which outlet's snapshot is used.

What Reuters Reported

Under one scenario described to Reuters, SK Hynix would lease part of Intel's long-delayed chipmaking campus in Ohio. Under another, the two companies could form a venture that also includes major cloud firms said to be keen on locking in memory chip supplies, according to two of the sources. No individual cloud company was named in the reporting, and Reuters said it was not able to learn what types of chips SK Hynix might manufacture in Ohio if an agreement is struck. SK Hynix's existing product lineup spans DRAM, NAND flash and high-bandwidth memory (HBM), but no production volumes for a potential Ohio deal have been reported.

In a statement to Reuters, SK Hynix said it is "reviewing various measures, including establishing additional production bases, to strengthen the competitiveness of its memory business," but that "no matters have been determined at this stage." Intel declined to comment on what it called speculation, but said it was continuing with investments in Ohio to ready the site.

Ohio's Repeatedly Delayed Timeline

Intel announced the Ohio campus in 2022, pledging at least $20 billion with a potential investment of roughly $100 billion across as many as eight fabs, and originally targeted 2025 for production from the first two plants, according to TradingView's account of the Reuters reporting. That schedule has slipped repeatedly. Intel now expects to complete the first fab in 2030 and begin operating it in 2030 or 2031, with the second fab completed in 2031 and starting production in 2032 — five to six years past the original 2025 production target for the first plant (2030 or 2031 versus 2025) and seven years past it for the second (2032 versus 2025). Facing financial strain, Intel announced large-scale layoffs and investment cuts last year, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Sensitive Technology and Seoul's Leverage

Any agreement to produce advanced memory such as HBM or even standard DRAM in the U.S. could run into opposition from the South Korean government, since those technologies are considered sensitive, three sources told Reuters. Asked about a potential SK Hynix plan to produce chips in the U.S., South Korea's trade ministry said any decision would be at the company's discretion, but that if it involved a "national core technology," it would be subject to review under the Industrial Technology Protection Act. The U.S. Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment on the reported talks.

Two of the sources said this leaves SK Hynix in a difficult position: Seoul is seeking to use any U.S. investment by the company as leverage in broader trade negotiations, while Washington is pressing SK Hynix to commit quickly to a U.S. expansion. Seoul has separately urged SK Hynix and rival Samsung Electronics to accelerate plans for a new cluster of chipmaking facilities in South Korea's southwest, described in TradingView's account as four new memory fabs within an 800 trillion won ($518 billion) investment. Reuters reported that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has threatened tariffs of up to 100% on South Korean and Taiwanese companies unless they commit to increased production on American soil, and TradingView reported that he said in July he was discussing U.S. memory output directly with SK Hynix and Samsung. Manufacturing semiconductors in the U.S. also costs significantly more than in South Korea because of higher labor and construction costs and the concentration of the industry's supply chain in Asia, two of the sources said.

Reuters, in the version of its report carried by Euronext, noted that some $150 billion of South Korea's proposed $350 billion U.S. investment package has been earmarked for shipbuilding, while the remaining $200 billion is undecided. The shipbuilding allocation is therefore $50 billion smaller than the undecided remainder (150 minus 200 equals negative 50, or 25% less). Our reading of those figures — an interpretation, not a source finding — is that Seoul still has a large pool of unallocated capital to direct across competing priorities; the reporting did not link that remainder to any specific memory chip commitment.

Why SK Hynix, and Why Now

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said in July that the company faces enormous pressure and lobbying from customers and countries to supply more chips, according to Reuters. "I think we need to build a factory in the United States," he told reporters. "If possible, I believe we should build it." Reuters also reported that SK Hynix completed a secondary Nasdaq listing in July and currently has only a chip packaging facility under construction in Indiana. CNBC reported that the company broke ground last month on that first U.S. facility and that CEO Kwak Noh-Jung said the $4 billion Indiana factory will make the state a "key HBM production base in America" by 2030.

SK Hynix is the world's second-largest memory-chip manufacturer and the leading supplier of HBM used in AI accelerators, with a multiyear agreement covering memory for Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform, according to TradingView's account of the Reuters reporting. CNBC reported that its South Korea-listed stock is up 400% over the last year amid an AI-driven memory shortage and that the company announced in June plans to double capacity over the next five years.

This is not the first round of speculation linking the two companies. In July, Intel was reported by Semafor, as relayed by Yahoo Finance Canada, to be seeking a partner to help operate the Ohio facility rather than sell it outright, with SK Hynix among the candidates considered and no formal negotiations underway at the time. SK Hynix subsequently denied a Korean media report that it was negotiating to acquire the Ohio campus outright, saying only that it was "looking for various acquisition and investment opportunities." Separately, Intel recently hired former SK Hynix CEO Lee Seok-hee as executive vice president overseeing its foundry division, part of an effort to strengthen back-end capabilities such as yield improvement, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Market Reaction

Reports of the talks moved both stocks, though the reported magnitude differs by outlet and timing. Reuters, via WSAU, reported Intel shares surged 5.2% in pre-market trading Wednesday while SK Hynix's stock finished 4.1% higher in Seoul. CNBC reported Intel up 3.2% and SK Hynix's Nasdaq-listed shares 2.6% higher in premarket trading at the time of its report. TradingView separately described Intel jumping 5% and SK Hynix climbing 3% in overnight trading heading into Wednesday. The spread across these snapshots most likely reflects the different times and venues at which each outlet took its reading rather than conflicting data, though that is our interpretation and none of the reports addresses the discrepancy.

A deal, if reached, would relieve pressure on Intel, which has been struggling financially and is part-owned by the U.S. government after converting $8.9 billion of unpaid CHIPS Act grants into a 10% equity stake last year, according to TradingView's account of the reporting, which also cited CEO Lip-Bu Tan's pledge of "no more blank checks." Intel's foundry division posted a $2.2 billion loss last year and a further $2.4 billion loss in the first quarter of this year, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily's July reporting. CNBC reported that winning marquee customers for its manufacturing, or foundry, business is a key pillar of Tan's strategy, while Reuters characterized any completed arrangement as a big win for the Trump administration's push to get chipmakers to build in the United States amid an acute, AI-driven memory shortage.

Bottom Line

The reported talks between SK Hynix and Intel remain exploratory, with sources telling Reuters that no decisions have been made and that a lease, a cloud-backed venture, or another structure entirely could all still be on the table. The outcome hinges on unresolved questions, including whether Seoul would classify any transferred memory technology as a national core technology requiring formal review, whether Intel's repeatedly delayed Ohio timeline can accommodate a new tenant, and how Washington's tariff pressure and Seoul's domestic investment demands are ultimately reconciled. Investors should treat the stock moves as a market reaction to a reported possibility, not confirmation of a finalized agreement.