South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix is making U.S. export approval for chipmaking equipment sent to its Dalian, China plant a condition for building a new NAND flash memory factory in the United States. Its U.S. subsidiary, Solidigm, aims to expand NAND production at the Dalian site to generate cash flow for multi-billion-dollar U.S. investments while also considering an IPO as early as 2027. The proposal sets up a direct clash with Washington's strict export controls restricting advanced semiconductor technology transfers to China.
Financing Solidigm's U.S. factory
- ▪Building semiconductor fabrication facilities requires billions of dollars and several years of construction, driving Solidigm to evaluate an initial public offering alongside revenue from expanded Chinese manufacturing.
- ▪SK Hynix seeks U.S. approval to export semiconductor manufacturing equipment to its Dalian plant in China as a condition for funding a new U.S. NAND flash memory factory.
- ▪Solidigm is considering an initial public offering as early as 2027 to raise additional capital to finance its proposed U.S. NAND factory investment.
- ▪Increasing production at the Dalian facility in China would generate cash flow to help Solidigm fund the construction of a planned NAND manufacturing factory in the United States.
Equipment plans for Dalian Mod B
- ▪SK Hynix stated that equipment installation for Mod B is conducted under U.S. government authorization, denying that capacity expansion is being sought for the facility completed in 2023.
- ▪SK Hynix built the Mod B production area at its Dalian plant in 2023 but left equipment buildout incomplete following a global downturn in the memory chip market.
- ▪Solidigm, the U.S. unit of SK Hynix, applied for a U.S. export license to buy and install additional chipmaking tools in an unused section called Mod B at the Dalian facility.
- ▪Solidigm plans to install equipment from U.S. suppliers Lam Research, Applied Materials, and KLA to manufacture NAND flash memory chips for solid-state drives used in AI data centers.
U.S. export policy on Chinese fabs
- ▪In December 2025, the U.S. Commerce Department granted an export license capping equipment shipments to SK Hynix's Dalian site for 2026 but has not approved equipment for 2027.
- ▪The U.S. Commerce Department revoked license exemptions for SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics in 2025, ending rules that allowed equipment shipments to Chinese fabs without individual approvals.
- ▪The Trump administration is pushing foreign semiconductor manufacturers to build facilities in the United States while enforcing export restrictions to limit China's access to advanced AI chipmaking tech.
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