White House: $450M from CHIPS Act going to SK hynix plans at Purdue

Announcement expected Tuesday. CHIPS Act funding among the final pieces in a deal with South Korean-based SK hynix for $3.89 billion in semiconductor manufacturing and research in West Lafayette

(Photo: SK hynix)

White House officials on Tuesday are expected to announce a preliminary agreement that will get the $3.87 billion SK hynix chip packaging and research facility at the Purdue Research Park up to $450 million from the federal CHIPS and Science Act funding to help pay for construction costs in West Lafayette.

The promise of federal money from the CHIPS Act comes four months after SK hynix, a South Korean semiconductor giant, announced plans to bring production of high-bandwidth memory used to feed the artificial intelligence market to West Lafayette by the second half of 2028 and eventually create an estimated 1,000 jobs.

The announcement also is expected to include a provision for up to another $500 million in federal loans for SK hynix from the CHIPS and Science Act, a 2022 measure that includes $52.7 billion for American semiconductor research, development, manufacturing and workforce development as an effort to avoid supply-chain interruptions and the potential political whims of overseas manufacturers.

With Tuesday’s announcement for SK hynix, the tally for proposed CHIPS and Science Act funds committed included term sheets for $30 billion in taxpayer money for 15 companies, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said. She said SK hynix’s $3.87 billion was part of $300 billion in private investment in the onshoring of semiconductor research and fabrication since the CHIPS Act rolled out.

“It's also a huge deal, because it means we in the United States will have the most secure and diverse supply chain in the world for the advanced semiconductors that power artificial intelligence,” Raimondo said in a call with reporters Monday.