SK hynix makes its last pitch, as zoning vote looms in West Lafayette
Some neighbors remain unconvinced after a month of community meetings about the location for the South Korean company’s $3.87B advanced chip packaging facility. WL City Council vote coming Monday.
(Editor’s note: An original version of this edition reported that PRF initially presented SK hynix an option of two sites in the Purdue Research Park as it recruited the company in 2023. PRF officials said Saturday that it had initially offered one, on what has come to be known as Site A, west of Yeager Road and a quarter-mile north of Kalberer Road in West Lafayette. This version has been corrected.)
Saturday morning at West Lafayette City Hall, a last chance for semiconductor giant SK hynix to make a case for its $3.87 billion plans for an advanced packaging facility in the Purdue Research Park, left some neighbors grumbling with accusations about secrecy and done deals and city council members still weighing their options ahead of a deciding vote Monday night.
SK hynix set up a month of community meetings – three public ones since April 11 and more held in private settings, based on accounts from community members and public officials who were invited over the past several weeks – since company officials asked the West Lafayette City Council for a one-month delay on a final vote on a rezoning request for the company’s preferred, 121-acre location on the northern edge of the city.
The site, north of Kalberer Road, is SK hynix’s second and preferred choice since announcing in April 2024 that it planned to build a 340,000-square-foot R&D and manufacturing facility to assemble high-bandwidth memory chips crucial to a growing AI computing market. At the time, the project – aiming at 1,000 jobs, with another 3,000 for direct suppliers – was touted as the most expensive economic development catch in Indiana history and considered a fundamental first piece in what’s envisioned as a larger “Silicon Heartland.”
A month ago, NK Kim, an SK hynix senior vice president and head of Neuron Project Management Office working in West Lafayette, had called the pause a “humbling opportunity” for the company, understanding that “we should have taken a more proactive approach and sooner to engage with our community.” An Area Plan Commission vote of 9-5 recommending against industrial zoning for the site – Purdue Research Foundation land in the Purdue Research Park north of Kalberer Road, between Yeager Road and County Road 50 West/Salisbury Street – loomed large, as the request headed toward a city council vote.
The city council vote is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday.
On Saturday morning, before heading into a panel discussion format in council chambers, Kim said the goal that day was to continue to give what he called an accurate look at what SK hynix planned to bring to West Lafayette in general and to the site north of Kalberer Road specifically.
After an hour-plus of the panel of SK hynix, PRF and utility representatives fielding questions – both submitted in advance and in person at a stand-up mic at the front of the room – frustrations boiled over for residents who said they were still brimming with questions and doubts about a project within view of their homes.
“Guys, I'm sorry, you got sold a bill of goods by PRF, and you're now facing some tough questions,” Sean Sasser, who lives north of West Lafayette, told Kim and other SK hynix officials. “You have not been able to or you're unwilling to answer very specific questions. What kind of toxic materials are you going to produce? What are the classifications? What is the amount? What kind of hazardous materials are you going to bring on site? You're unable or unwilling to answer that.”
Residents who have gathered more than 2,500 signatures on petitions and lined subdivision streets with yard signs against the proposed location came away from West Lafayette City Hall asking city council members to vote no and to regroup on SK hynix coming to the community, this time with neighborhoods involved.
“A request to rezone a residential area to heavy industry, bordering and affecting up to nine neighborhoods and proposed neighborhoods, where thousands of residents live, must include residents as a partner and central stakeholder in the process,” Andrew Patton, a University Farm resident, said after Saturday’s meeting.
Patton said he was certain that a yes vote at Monday night’s city council meeting would end conversations that ramped up in the past two months, as neighborhoods raced to catch up and contemplate what it would be like to live next to the 24/7 operations of a semiconductor facility.
“This must be done early in the decision-making process, and in a meaningful way, so interests can be expressed and to confirm our common shared interests with other key stakeholders, including SK hynix, Purdue and PRF,” Patton said. “It doesn’t matter how long or costly a decision-making process has been active. When a key stakeholder is left out of the process, it is important to regroup and consider the central interests of all stakeholders. … I believe we have enough creative and brilliant minds in this community to determine an alternative site for SK hynix that sits away from residential neighborhoods.”
Here are some of the questions, discussions and takeaways before, during and after Saturday’s community meeting.
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