SK hynix receives $458 million of CHIPS Incentives Award for AI semiconductor facility and R&D center at Purdue Research Park

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue’s historic partnership with SK hynix received the definitive award from the CHIPS and Science Act to fund SK hynix’s semiconductor advanced packaging plant for artificial intelligence products and an R&D center in West Lafayette. 

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced up to $458 million in direct funding today (Dec. 19) to bolster the SK hynix investment. The award comes from the CHIPS Incentives Program’s funding for commercial facilities.

The Purdue partnership with SK hynix fills a critical gap in the U.S. semiconductor supply chain. SK hynix is the world’s leading producer of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The CHIPS investment represents a significant step in advancing the security of the U.S. supply chain.

“Since SK hynix’s announcement of their $3.87 billion investment at Purdue Research Park this April, the world of AI and semiconductors has continued to advance rapidly,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said. “With the world-leading memory chips for AI products and with the unique step of advanced packaging in the chips supply chain, this Silicon Heartland ecosystem is now coming to fruition to strengthen the foundation for national and economic security. In what is becoming the largest such tech production facility on any university campus, Purdue will partner closely with SK hynix and its suppliers and customers to create jobs, workforce and research innovation along America’s Hard-Tech Corridor.”

The SK hynix facility will be located in Purdue Research Park, one of the largest university-affiliated incubation complexes in the country, which unites discovery and delivery with easy access to Purdue faculty experts in the semiconductor field, highly sought-after graduates prepared to work in the industry, and vast Purdue research resources.

“This collaboration between industry, academia and government exemplifies the innovative partnerships needed to strengthen America’s position in the global semiconductor landscape and secure our technological future,” said Chad Pittman, incoming president and CEO of Purdue Research Foundation.

The next generation of HBM chips that will be researched, developed, mass-produced and packaged in this ecosystem with Purdue University will play an important role in the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem. AI is driving the growth and demand for HBM capacity, which is one of the core supply chain constraints for the AI industry. The chips are a critical component of graphic processing units that train AI systems such as ChatGPT.

The CHIPS Act funding award is the latest major semiconductor announcement for Purdue. Last month, the Semiconductor Research Corporation-led consortium with Purdue as a lead academic institution won the national competition to create the Semiconductor Manufacturing and Advanced Research with Twins (SMART) USA Institute. On the international front in the same month, Chiang unveiled plans for two Purdue-India centers, including a U.S.-India Center of Excellence in Semiconductors with the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, and support from the governments of the U.S. and India.

Purdue is the national academic leader in microelectronics and semiconductors, from world-leading research and industry partnerships to transformational investments in infrastructure and pioneering education and workforce development programs.

Purdue’s growing semiconductor innovation ecosystem is one of the key pillars of Purdue Computes, a comprehensive initiative across computing departments, physical AI, semiconductors, and quantum science and engineering to enable unparalleled excellence at scale.

The continuing SK hynix investment in the Midwest and Indiana was spurred by Purdue’s excellence in discovery and innovation and its track record of exceptional R&D and talent development through collaboration. Partnerships among Purdue, the corporate sector, and the state and federal government are essential to advancing the U.S. semiconductor industry and establishing the region as the Silicon Heartland.

SK hynix joins Bayer, imec, MediaTek, Rolls-Royce, Saab and many more national and international companies bringing innovation to America’s heartland. The new facility is expected to provide more than a thousand new employment opportunities in the Greater Lafayette community. The company plans to begin mass production in the second half of 2028.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.

Media contact: Brian Huchel, bhuchel@purdue.edu