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SK Hynix's Solidigm Stalls on $45B New York Chip Plan as US Holds China Licenses
A plan to build two memory-chip plants in Marcy, New York now depends on whether Washington lets American equipment upgrade a factory in Dalian, China.
A planned $45 billion-plus chip investment in upstate New York is stuck in a tug-of-war between Washington and Beijing. Solidigm, the U.S.-based arm of South Korea's SK Hynix, wants to build two NAND memory plants in Marcy, but U.S. export licenses for its China operations have stalled, Reuters reported.
Here is the catch. The company says the New York project leans on cash from its Dalian factory in China. To keep that plant competitive, it wants to expand output and bring in more advanced chipmaking technology, which requires American equipment and U.S. approval.
So far, Commerce Department officials are not budging. Solidigm executives have held nearly 10 meetings with the department since late August. In one, Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler reportedly said Washington would not allow more American tools to expand or upgrade capacity in China.
Still, the door is not fully shut. The department has not formally rejected a license request to fit empty cleanroom space in Dalian with U.S. equipment. The two sides are also talking about a separate 2027 license for routine maintenance at the site.
Why should you care? NAND memory is the storage that holds data even when the power goes off, and data centers need vast amounts of it. The Marcy plants could grow into an investment of roughly $100 billion over time, so this is a big prize for the state and for U.S. chip manufacturing.
Leland Miller, a member of the congressionally created U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said the project cannot move forward without direct White House backing. That turns a licensing question into a political choice between tight national security limits and welcoming foreign investment.
Neither the White House nor Commerce responded to Reuters' requests for comment. Solidigm says it regularly weighs options worldwide and that no final decision on any project location has been made. SK Hynix shares rose about 2% on Tuesday. Read the original report.
