SK hynix is negotiating to acquire Intel’s massive semiconductor campus in New Albany, Ohio, with plans to begin front-end memory chip production there within five years, according to the JoongAng Ilbo.
The Korean chipmaker is reportedly conducting an internal review and seeking government approval, while the acquisition price and timetable remain under discussion. The deal would allow SK hynix to respond quickly to Washington’s demands for more U.S.-based semiconductor production, while providing financially strained Intel with fresh liquidity.
Intel broke ground on the roughly 1,000-acre Ohio campus in 2022, its first new U.S. manufacturing site in four decades. The complex was designed to accommodate as many as eight fabs, with a potential total investment of about $100 billion. Intel initially planned to spend $28 billion on the first two plants and begin production in 2025, supported by subsidies under the CHIPS and Science Act.
Those plans were later delayed as Intel’s foundry business struggled with manufacturing setbacks, weak customer demand and mounting losses. Major chip designers, including Nvidia, Apple and AMD, continued to rely on TSMC, while Intel cut jobs and capital spending and postponed the Ohio site’s opening until 2030 or 2031. Its foundry division lost $2.2 billion last year and another $2.4 billion in the first quarter.
Selling the partially completed campus could help Intel raise cash and restructure its foundry operations. The company has also appointed former SK hynix CEO Lee Seok-hee to oversee the division and improve manufacturing yields and back-end capabilities.
For SK hynix, acquiring an advanced, partly built site would be faster than developing a new U.S. fab from scratch. The company is already investing $3.87 billion in an HBM packaging facility in Indiana, but Washington is pressing Korean chipmakers to establish front-end memory production in the United States as well.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently called for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to build more production facilities in the country, remarks widely interpreted as a push for domestic DRAM manufacturing rather than packaging alone. The broader objective is to create a self-contained U.S. AI semiconductor supply chain covering chip design, foundry production, memory and packaging.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has also said the company is searching for U.S. locations where semiconductor plants can be built quickly, amid tight memory supply and elevated prices. Intel’s Ohio campus could offer SK hynix the fastest route to meeting that goal.
