SK Hynix to Produce HBM in the U.S. Amid Mounting Investment Pressure

[Anchor]

SK Hynix has begun building the United States' first production base for next-generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). Meanwhile, the Trump administration is reportedly considering high-intensity tariffs not only on semiconductors but also on finished products containing semiconductors to further pressure investment within the U.S.

Reporter Kwon Ran has the details.

[Reporter]

Massive concrete structures now stand on a site spanning one-eighth the size of Yeouido.

This is the construction site for SK Hynix's first U.S. factory, located in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The facility will perform advanced packaging and back-end processes, stacking or binding multiple chips to enhance semiconductor performance.

The goal is to mass-produce hundreds of thousands of units of the 7th-generation advanced memory, HBM4E, annually starting in the second half of 2029.

Major customers are expected to include big tech companies in the U.S., such as Nvidia.

This aligns well with President Trump's stance of securing supply chain dominance through the production of U.S.-made semiconductors.

[Kwak Noh-jung / CEO and President of SK Hynix: We will strengthen the U.S. semiconductor supply chain and contribute to national and economic security.]

Samsung Electronics is building semiconductor foundry plants in Taylor, following its existing facility in Austin, Texas.

The successive U.S. investments by South Korean companies are also tied to pressure from the Trump administration.

U.S. political media outlet Politico reported that the Trump administration is recently reviewing plans to expand the scope of semiconductor tariffs beyond chips to include finished products containing semiconductors, such as laptops and data center servers.

Currently, South Korea's exported semiconductors are tariff-free, but the possibility has been raised that these benefits could be altered depending on investments within the U.S.

[Howard Lutnick / U.S. Secretary of Commerce (Interview with U.S. Fox Business in August last year): President Trump's goal is to utilize our top technology to produce semiconductors in the U.S. so that we can best control them.]

SK Hynix has announced plans to invest an additional $45 billion or more in the U.S. by 2030, while Samsung plans to invest a total of $37 billion in constructing the Taylor plant. Attention is focused on whether these moves can serve as a shield against Trump's semiconductor tariffs.

(Video Editing: Kim Ho-jin, Design: Kang Yoon-jung, Park Hye-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.