GLC backs up its support for SK hynix, as pushback for $3.87B chip site continues

Greater Lafayette Commerce board calls SK hynix’s entry into West Lafayette ‘pivotal’ to West Lafayette and region. Statement does not take position on controversial zoning vote coming Monday.

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GLC BACKS UP ITS SUPPORT FOR SK HYNIX, AS PUSHBACK FOR $3.87B CHIP SITE CONTINUES

Greater Lafayette Commerce, which played roles in recruiting SK hynix and its planned $3.87 billion advanced chip packaging to West Lafayette, weighed in Thursday with a statement that the board of directors continued to back the project they say “marks a major step forward for the region’s economy, workforce and long-term competitiveness.”

The statement released Thursday morning did not specifically address a controversial rezoning request going Monday to the West Lafayette City Council, which could determine whether the South Korean company may build in its preferred location on 121 acres in the Purdue Research Park.

(Photo: SK hynix)

“What we’re seeing today with SK hynix is a rare opportunity,” Rachel Hazaray, outgoing chair of GLC board of directors, said in Thursday’s release. “A project of this scale naturally raises questions, but it also signals something significant: Greater Lafayette is at the epicenter of a semiconductor sector poised for exponential growth. This investment lays the foundation to further modernize our regional economy — one that’s globally connected and locally rooted.”

SK hynix’s plans, at the time the largest economic development investment in Indiana history, were announced in April 2024, part of a CHIPS Act-era push to bring semiconductor research and manufacturing to the U.S. in the name of the supply chain and national security. The company, a key supplier to AI processor giant Nvidia, planned to build a 430,000-square-foot facility by 2028 that would employ 1,000 people and assemble high-bandwidth memory used in AI applications.

Purdue, state and local leaders hailed the plans as the potential start of what’s been touted as a “Silicon Heartland,” with a region of semiconductor-related research and industry.

Greater Lafayette Commerce, through the state’s regional READI grant program, helped guided $5 million to Purdue and Ivy Tech training programs for high school and college students, as well as technicians and engineers, to feed the semiconductor push.

Now, a year later, SK hynix’s plans hit a snag when Purdue Research Foundation – which owns land at the Purdue Research Park – proposed industrial zoning on 121 acres north of Kalberer Road, between Yeager Road and County Road 50 West, as a new preferred site for the facility.

That industrial rezoning plan received a negative recommendation from the Area Plan Commission, on a 9-5 vote on March 19, after a night of testimony from neighbors – some of them Purdue professors involved in the university’s semiconductor research – who called out the proposed location as unsafe.

Since then, SK hynix officials have been hosting community meetings and making their case for the location and for their place in West Lafayette’s economy. They also have said they would adjust back to an initial site – just on the other side of Yeager Road, on acreage already zoned appropriately – if the zoning request fails.

The West Lafayette City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing and vote on that rezoning request Monday. As of late last week, council members surveyed by Based in Lafayette were still split on the issue.

In Thursday’s statement, Greater Lafayette Commerce board called SK hynix’s plan “a pivotal moment that is expected to spark further investment and strengthen the region’s economy, workforce and innovation ecosystem for years to come.”

“This investment directly aligns with Greater Lafayette Commerce’s mission to advance economic and community prosperity for a superior quality of life,” Jody Hamilton, incoming chair of GLC board of directors, said in Thursday’s release. “By attracting world-class, ethically responsible industry leaders like SK hynix, West Lafayette and the region is not only diversifying and strengthening its economic landscape, but also creating meaningful opportunities for residents, students and businesses alike.”

Asked about GLC’s position on the rezoning question going to the city council, Greater Lafayette Commerce and its board of directors said through a spokesperson that they “were a part of the efforts to bring SK hynix to West Lafayette and our region, and we simply wanted to express that support.”

Meanwhile, neighbors in University Farm, Amberleigh Village, Arbor Chase and other residential areas near the proposed site continue to plant signs in subdivision lawns and gathering signatures on a petition advocating for bring SK hynix to the community, just at another site farther from residential areas. The petition – raising a host of questions about environmental concerns, traffic and reservations about an industrial site so close to residential areas – has more than 2,400 signatures, as of Thursday. Neighbors plan another rally against the rezoning plan Friday afternoon at the intersection of Kalberer Road and Salisbury Street.

Still in play …

CITY COUNCIL VOTE: The West Lafayette City Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at city hall, 222 N. Chauncey Ave. On Tuesday, the city released the following guidelines about where overflow crowds can participate in public comment that night.

COMMUNITY MEETING NO. 3 FOR SK HYNIX: The third of three community meetings on the SK hynix rezoning proposal will be 9 a.m. Saturday, May 3, will be at West Lafayette City Hall, 222 N. Chauncey Ave. According to a release Wednesday from the city, the meeting will be a mix of the previous two community sessions – a science fair-style poster session and informational stations will be up starting at 9 a.m., with a 10 a.m. panel discussion and Q&A with officials from the South Korean company. Seating will be limited to 150 people between the council chambers and city hall’s Bean Room, according to the city release. Anyone with questions or comments may submit those ahead of time at: neuron.prf.org/#contact

Q&A SITE FOR SK HYNIX’S PLANS: The South Korean semiconductor company and Purdue Research Foundation last week released a website with their plans for a $3.87 billion R&D and advanced chip packaging facility expected to open for production in 2028 and eventually employ 1,000 people in West Lafayette. The FAQ offers SK hynix’s answers to questions raised recently about site selection and the company’s approach to environmental, waste handling, traffic and other issues. According to the company, the website will include additional content in the coming days. For now, here’s a way into a page about “Project Neuron,” which was the code name used when recruiting SK hynix to the Purdue Research Park: neuron.prf.org/

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BIG GIFTS, RECORD NUMBER OF DONORS COME OUT FOR PURDUE’S DAY OF GIVING

Purdue topped $100 million Wednesday in its Day of Giving for the second time since the 24-hour fundraising blitz started in 2014.

Wednesday’s tally reached $105 million, passing the $76.5 million from 32,054 gifts in during the 2025 Day of Giving. That was good for No. 2 on Purdue’s annual calling card for gifts and pledges, behind the 2023 total of $110.8 million from 27,855 donors. Since 2014, Purdue Day of Giving has raised $602.1 million.

Purdue touted that Wednesday’s haul including 36,875 gifts, which was the most for a Day of Giving at the university.

Wednesday’s total also was a piece of the university’s recently announced five-year, $4 billion “Victories & Heroes” fundraising campaign.

Among the biggest gifts tied to Day of Giving:

• $20 million from Philip Low, Purdue’s Ralph C. Corley Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, and his wife, Joan, supporting the creation of the Low Institute for Therapeutics, which will be aimed at early-stage trials on treatments for cancer, malaria and other diseases.

• $20 million from Greg and Amy Baker for research in the College of Pharmacy and the university’s One Health initiative.

• $8 million from Sam and Marsha Allen for the Mitch Daniels School of Business, including $5 million to name a new laboratory within the school and $3 million to name the directorship of the Brock-Wilson Center for Women in Business.

• $5 million from the Jean and Bernas Downing Charitable Trust supporting Purdue Extension to establish the Downing Endowment for Community Vitality.

• $1.49 million from Michael Humnicky for Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies, the College of Science, and study-abroad initiatives.

Julie Dussliere, president and CEO of Purdue for Life, oversaw her first Day of Giving since arriving on campus in fall 2024. She said the idea for 12th edition was to get across “that every gift matters, no matter the size.”

“I’ve got to give kudos to the team,” Julie Dussliere, president and CEO of Purdue for Life, said Wednesday. “Great fun activities, new ideas, different challenge boards, getting everyone on campus engaged on the day, and just being creative to keep it fresh, keep it new. It's become a tradition that there's the Day of Giving, and then putting those activities in there that really engage the campus community, from students to faculty to alums, to get people, you know, wanting to jump in some way today and give back.”

• For a look at the leaderboards from the Day of Giving: dayofgiving.purdue.edu/leaderboards.

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