Could Computer Memory Soon Be Made in America?

SK Hynix is talking with Intel about making RAM chips in the United States for the first time. The talks were reported Sept. 16, 2026, citing sources familiar with the matter. Reuters Nothing has been signed, and the plan is still fluid.

Two ideas are on the table, according to the same reporting. One would have SK Hynix rent space inside Intel's planned factory in Ohio to make the chips. The other would form a joint venture, a business owned together, that could include cloud-service providers. TechCrunch

SK Hynix replied the same day. It said it is "exploring various options to strengthen its global competitiveness, but no specific plans or arrangements have been finalized." It said no decisions have been made about the two ideas. Its official post was titled "No plans have been confirmed regarding the reported talks between SK hynix and Intel on memory chip production in the U.S." SK Hynix Newsroom

Investors reacted fast. SK Hynix's U.S.-listed shares rose 3.3% after the news, and Intel shares also rose at first. Those gains cooled after SK Hynix said no plans had been confirmed. Investing.com

These talks are separate from a U.S. plant SK Hynix is already building. It is spending $3.8 billion on a packaging and research site for AI chips in West Lafayette, Indiana, with mass production expected in 2029. That site will take DRAM wafers made in South Korea and assemble them into HBM chips, a stacked memory used for AI.

The two companies have dealt before. In 2020, Intel sold its NAND flash-memory business to SK Hynix for $9 billion, a deal that included Intel's NAND SSD business. SK Hynix later received China's approval to take over Intel's NAND business.

The broader context here is that packaging and making chips are different steps. Indiana is the later step, putting memory stacks together for AI processors. Ohio would be the earlier step, forming the memory circuits themselves. Think of it as baking the layers in one kitchen and stacking and boxing the cake in another.

In my view, the two Ohio options solve different problems. Renting space would be faster and less risky than building from scratch. Sharing ownership with cloud providers would spread the high cost and link output to firm orders, which points to buyers wanting steadier HBM supply. If either path goes ahead, it would mean more U.S. choice for memory, not full independence. That still helps, giving hardware makers more flexibility on testing, shipping and backup plans.