As construction looms, a Q&A with the new leader of SK hynix's $3.87B project in West Lafayette
With work imminent and lawsuits continue trying to stop it, Choonhwan Kim, fresh in West Lafayette to oversee the project, says SK hynix wants to be a good neighbor even as protest persists
Correction: After a review of the translation provided during this interview, a passage in this Q&A has been corrected to reflect that the number of processes, rather than water usage, in a chip packaging fab planned in West Lafayette is 15% of those in front-end chip manufacturing done in South Korea.
A court filing Friday afternoon, letting on to growing frustration over lingering lawsuits looking to block the rezoning of a West Lafayette site as the location for SK hynix’s $3.87 billion semiconductor facility, indicated that the South Korean company would start construction activity in the coming weeks.
The filing by SK hynix’s attorneys in connection with a pair of resident-driven lawsuits filed in June 2025, arguing in Tippecanoe Circuit Court that a city council vote on rezoning was inadequate and ill-conceived, follows the company’s successful application for building permits to do $98 million in foundation work on the 133-acre site north of Kalberer Road.
The filing gave the court a heads up, saying the SK hynix needs to begin work – fencing in February, grading in early March – to hit milestones for federal support via $458 million in CHIPS and Science Act funding and hundreds of millions of dollars more in state funding.
“Taking the concerns from the residents of West Lafayette seriously and in respect of the legal proceedings before this court, SK hynix has taken a cautious approach by delaying the commencement of the construction, not only to respond to this lawsuit but also to reach out to members of the community to resolve any concerns surrounding construction of the proposed facility,” Allen Townsend, SK hynix’s attorney, wrote in Friday’s filing. “If SK hynix fails to meet those milestones, the federal and/or state government may withhold support and, in doing so, jeopardize the proposed facility. Consequently, SK hynix can no longer delay beginning construction.”
Attorneys for Lora Williams, Karl Janich and Sean Sasser, three West Lafayette residents who filed the two lawsuits, did not immediately comment on the filing. Tom Williams, who is representing Lora Williams, said Saturday that he would respond via a filing in court. The cases, combined shortly after they were filed, are scheduled for their next court hearing March 9. No trial date has been set.
Though, Helen DeMarco, a spokesperson for a group called Stop Heavy Industry, told BiL: “We’re not taking that as a defeat.”
On Friday, Choonhwan Kim, head of Global Infrastructure for the South Korean company, discussed the construction timeline, community protest and the company’s plans to move forward regardless during an interview with Based in Lafayette.
Kim – who has been with SK hynix for 34 years, including 26 connected with the company’s R&D work – arrived in West Lafayette in the past week, a move that stems from a company reorganization launched in December to manage its global sites. Kim will be based in West Lafayette, overseeing the operations of the Indiana facility first announced with big fanfare in April 2024 as one of the largest developments in Indiana history.
He arrives in West Lafayette not only facing the lawsuits, but a petition with more than 3,000 signatures against the project, yard signs that demand the city “Reverse the Rezone” voted on in May 2025 and periodic pop-up protests near the site north of Kalberer Road, between Yeager Road and County Road 50 West/Salisbury Street.
The Q&A with BiL was conducted through an interpreter at SK hynix’s offices where 30 employees are working in the Purdue Research Park. It started with Kim discussing what his assignment in West Lafayette meant for the high-bandwith memory assembly and R&D project.
Choonhwan Kim: The Indiana fab is going to play a central role as we will be expanding our global operations. We have faced many challenges as we are preparing for the commencement of the construction of the Indiana fab, but we try to come up with the solutions through different mitigation metrics, such as the small group meetings, to better communicate with the community. We try to reflect the concerns of the local community and come up with better solutions.
It is now time for us to commence the construction based on the milestones that were promised with not just the West Lafayette city, but also with the federal government. In order to uphold and meet the milestones on schedule, it is time for us to launch the construction, in order for us to be in full operation by the latter half of 2028. SK hynix not only wants to fulfill its goal for the mass production, but also want to fulfill our obligation and also commitment to become a good neighbor to the community. So we want to fully reflect the concerns and voices of the local residents as we move forward the project, and we plan to do so continuously.
Question: You say you want to fulfill obligations to the federal government and to West Lafayette. Are there deadlines in funding to start grading and doing foundation work?
Choonhwan Kim: There was not a specific date that was set in stone by the federal government, but it’s rather that we calculated back from our target date for the full operation in the latter half of the 2028. And based on that calculation, we find that it’s fitting for us to start the installation of the fence by the end of February, and also start the site grading by the beginning of March in order for us to meet the milestone. We no longer can tolerate the delays at this point.
