In April, Purdue President Moon Chain announced a historic $3.7 billion partnership with SK Hynix. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced $458 million in funding through the CHIPS Act for an advanced packaging manufacturing and research and development facility planned for West Lafayette, Indiana. (Purdue University photo/Kelsey Lefever)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Historic partnership between Purdue and SK Hynix includes funding from CHIPS and Science Act for SK Hynix’s semiconductor advanced packaging plant for artificial intelligence products and research and development center in West Lafayette. won a definitive award.
The U.S. Department of Commerce today (December 19) announced up to $458 million in direct funding to strengthen investment in SK Hynix. This award is funded by the CHIPS Incentive Program for Commercial Properties.
Purdue’s partnership with SK Hynix fills a critical gap in the U.S. semiconductor supply chain. SK Hynix is the world’s leading manufacturer of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. An investment in CHIPS is an important step toward improving the security of the U.S. supply chain.
“The worlds of AI and semiconductors have continued to advance rapidly since SK Hynix announced a $3.87 billion investment in Purdue Research Park in April of this year,” said Purdue President Moon Chan. said. “With world-leading memory chips for AI products and a unique step in advanced packaging in the chip supply chain, we An ecosystem is coming to fruition to strengthen the foundations of national and economic security. In what is becoming the largest technology production facility of its kind on a university campus, Purdue will partner with SK Hynix and its We plan to work closely with our suppliers and customers to create jobs, workforce, and research and innovation along America’s hard tech corridor.”
SK Hynix’s facility is located within Purdue Research Park, one of the nation’s largest university-affiliated incubation complexes, integrating discovery and delivery to Purdue experts and job seekers in the semiconductor field. Provide easy access to popular graduates who are ready for the. industry, and Purdue’s vast research resources.
“This collaboration between industry, academia, and government is necessary to strengthen America’s position in the global semiconductor landscape and secure our technological future,” said Chad Pittman, incoming president and CEO of the Purdue Research Foundation. This is an example of an innovative partnership.”
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 growth and demand for HBM capacity. This is one of the core supply chain constraints of the AI industry. This chip is a key component of the graphics processing unit that trains AI systems such as ChatGPT.
The CHIPS Act funding award is the latest major semiconductor announcement at Purdue. Last month, a consortium led by Semiconductor Research Corporation, with Purdue as the lead academic institution, won a national competition to create the Semiconductor Manufacturing and Advanced Research with Twins (SMART) USA Institute. In the same month, on the international front, Chiang Kai-shek announced plans for two centers at Purdue India, including a U.S.-India Semiconductor Center of Excellence with the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, and support from the U.S. and Indian governments.
Purdue University is the nation’s academic leader in microelectronics and semiconductors, from world-leading research and industry partnerships to transformative 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. Purdue Computes is a comprehensive effort across the computing sector, physical AI, semiconductors, and quantum science and engineering to deliver unparalleled excellence at scale.
SK Hynix’s continued investment in the Midwest and Indiana is driven by Purdue’s track record of excellence in discovery and innovation, as well as excellence in R&D and collaborative talent development. Partnerships between Purdue, the corporate sector, and the state and federal governments 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 other national and international companies in bringing innovation to America’s heartland. The new facility is expected to provide more than 1,000 new job opportunities to the Greater Lafayette community. The company plans to start mass production in the second half of 2028.
About Purdue University
Purdue University is a public research institution that exemplifies excellence at scale. Ranked among the top 10 public universities and two in the nation’s top four, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge at a quality and scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study in a variety of ways and locations at Purdue, including nearly 50,000 students who study in person at our West Lafayette campus. With a focus on affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition for the 13th consecutive year. Learn how Purdue continues its relentless pursuit of the next big leap, including Indianapolis’ first integrated urban campus, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes, and the One Health Initiative. Visit https://www.purdue.edu/. President/Strategic Initiatives.
Media Contact: Brian Huchel, bhuchel@purdue.edu
