Rezone request for $3.8B SK hynix facility on hold, for now

Purdue Research Foundation asks to delay April 7 city council vote after neighborhood protest grows, West Lafayette City Council vote uncertain on proposed site of advanced chip packaging facility

(Photo: SK hynix)

A request to rezone land for a $3.87 billion SK hynix advanced chip packaging facility in West Lafayette has been put on hold for at least a month, city and Purdue Research Foundation officials confirmed Wednesday.

A rezoning request for 121 acres north of Kalberer Road, between Yeager Road and County Road 50 West/Salisbury Street, scheduled to go to the West Lafayette City Council on April 7 has been pulled from the agenda.

West Lafayette Mayor Erin Easter said Purdue Research Foundation asked for a delay on the vote. Jeremy Slater, PRF’s vice president of capital projects and facilities, said the plan is to meet with the community about SK hynix’s plans, given protest that came to a head last week during an Area Plan Commission hearing and in petitions circulating against the South Korean company’s semiconductor packaging facility near residential neighborhoods.

Slater said Wednesday that those details for community meetings were being worked out and would be announced later.