Construction coming at $3.87B SK hynix site: ‘We no longer can tolerate the delays’
As court challenges continue, SK hynix official says construction plans are moving forward.
A little over a week after SK hynix received building permits from the city of West Lafayette for $98 million in foundation work for its semiconductor site north of Kalberer Road, a company official on Friday laid out the start of a construction schedule, even as a pair of pending lawsuits challenge the location of the facility.
Choonhwan Kim, head of Global Infrastructure for the South Korean company and recently assigned in an SK hynix restructuring to oversee the $3.87 billion project in West Lafayette, said the company would continue to work with nearby residents who have been fighting the location and the West Lafayette City Council’s May 2025 vote to rezone the 133-acre site.
But Kim said fences will start being installed around the site, between Yeager Road and County Road 50 West/Salisbury Street, on Feb. 23. Grading work is expected to start March 2. A timetable for pouring foundations hasn’t been set for a manufacturing and R&D facility that is scheduled to start assembling high-bandwidth memory chips for use in a growing AI market in 2028, Kim said.
“We calculated back from our target date for the full operation in the latter half of the 2028,” Kim told Based in Lafayette on Friday. “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.”
What about a pair of complaints from three West Lafayette residents looking to stop the project? The next status hearing in those cases is scheduled for March 9 in Tippecanoe Circuit Court.
“The litigation may have caused slight delays in our process, but we want to ensure that our target date of the latter half of 2028 is met,” Kim said. “I’m not really speaking about the confidence levels about the litigation, but we are merely following the necessary steps SK hynix needs to follow in terms of the commencement of the construction”
SK hynix officials said they intended to notify the court Friday afternoon about their construction schedule.
“I can’t say I’m surprised they’re going to do that,” said Helen DeMarco, a University Farm neighborhood resident and a leader of the Stop Heavy Industry group trying to get SK hynix to pick another site farther from residential subdivisions.
“For our team, I’m not sure what to say other than, we’re not going to stop,” DeMarco said. “We’re not taking that as a defeat.”
SK hynix has had permits from the county’s drainage board since early January that would allow contractors to move dirt on the site.
The city on Jan. 26 issued three building permits for foundations on Purdue Research Foundation-owned property at 3800 Yeager Road, totaling $98 million, for an office building, the company’s fab/manufacturing facility and a central utility building, according West Lafayette records.
Two lawsuits were filed on the same day in June 2025. Lora Williams, who lives near the SK hynix site, filed a lawsuit against the city, SK hynix and Purdue Research Foundation, contending that the city council overstepped its authority, ignoring warnings from local experts about health, environmental and other concerns in its vote. Residents Sean Sasser and Karl Janich filed a similar complaint, raising questions about improper notice about the rezoning process, a general lack of study or evidence about the potential impacts on the environment and the neighborhoods, and allegations of backroom negotiations between the city and SK hynix that influenced what was a controversial decision. The lawsuits contend the city council should have either accepted a 9-5 vote in March from the Area Plan Commission to recommend denial or sent the matter back to the APC for further review.
In November, attorneys for SK hynix and Purdue Research Foundation asked the court for a summary judgment that would end the lawsuits. No trial date has been set on the combined cases, as the sides wrangle over requests for documents connected to how SK hynix wound up aimed at its current site.
Kim said Friday that SK hynix’s plans are firmly set for that location.
“At this point, we wish to move forward with the current site, if possible,” Kim said. “That seems to be the most feasible option.”
Coming this weekend: BiL will have a more in-depth Q&A with Choonhwan Kim, head of Global Infrastructure for the South Korean company, about SK hynix’s plans for a $3.87 billion facility in West Lafayette, the community blowback and how the company is working to gain trust of neighbors.
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I am looking forward to this industry coming to our community. It is needed to keep WL moving forward. I hope the people that are against this project welcome the people and their families who will be here building and leading it with the same open arms that they would any other newcomer.
No matter what the company, city council members or PRF say at this point will build trust. It's the wrong location PERIOD.