SK Hynix Ties U.S. NAND Factory to Tool Access for China Plant
SK Hynix has made continued work on a planned U.S. NAND factory conditional on Washington approving more shipments of U.S. chipmaking equipment to its fab in Dalian, China, according to sources cited by Reuters on October 15, 2026. Reuters The request ties a domestic investment to export access for an existing plant abroad.
The U.S. project sits with Solidigm, SK Hynix's flash memory unit. Solidigm plans to build a NAND flash memory chip factory in the U.S., which stores data in phones, PCs and data centers, and is considering upstate New York as a possible site. TechCrunch As a condition for continuing that build, Solidigm is seeking U.S. approval to send American chipmaking equipment to its factory in Dalian, China.
In Dalian, the company wants to place added tools in spare space at the SK Hynix factory to increase NAND chip production. The Dalian Mod B building was finished in 2023. The Dalian site uses tools from U.S. suppliers including Lam, according to reporting on the request. Yahoo Finance
SK Hynix told TechCrunch it is not seeking to expand capacity at Dalian Mod B. It said installation work at Dalian is being carried out in consultation with and under authorization from the U.S. government. The distinction is technical. Filling empty floor space with more tools can lift total bit output through denser equipment and a shift to newer process steps, without constructing a new building or adding wafer starts on paper.
Washington first placed broad limits on exports of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China in October 2022, citing national security concerns. The U.S. has given Samsung and SK Hynix an annual license to send chipmaking equipment to their plants in China. In September 2025, the Trump administration revoked special export exemptions for certain SK Hynix, Samsung and Intel facilities in China. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he wanted Samsung and SK Hynix to build chip plants in the U.S. and that he was in talks with both companies.
Solidigm is SK Hynix's U.S. subsidiary based in San Jose. It comes from SK Hynix's agreement to pay US $9 billion for Intel's NAND memory and storage business. SK Hynix finished the first phase of that purchase, acquiring Intel's SSD business and the Dalian NAND Flash Manufacturing Facility assets in China. SK Hynix Newsroom
The business stakes go beyond buildings. Solidigm is preparing for a 2027 U.S. IPO that could raise around $10 billion and value it at up to $100 billion. SK Hynix shares fell 5% around reporting on that possible IPO. Bloomberg Research firm TrendForce expects NAND prices to rise 15% to 20% in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The broader context here is a negotiation over two different kinds of capacity. A new NAND fab in the U.S. means site choice, power and water, tool testing and a ramp that takes years. Adding tools in spare space in Dalian means shorter lead times, known production steps and an established supplier base. For a NAND supplier setting contract prices for Q4, the Dalian route affects near-term supply faster than the U.S. route.
Looking at what this means for tool vendors and fab operators, the Dalian detail is useful. NAND output still depends on U.S.-made etch, deposition and test systems, machines that carve, layer and check chips, even when the building and wafers are in China. Yearly licenses, rather than open-ended exemptions, give Commerce a yearly check on that dependence. Vendors get steadier planning for service and spare parts, but not open permission to ship the fastest throughput upgrades.
In my view, this shows how factory deals inside the U.S. are now put together. Governments want firm building commitments in their own regions. Suppliers want flexibility to use equipment across their global sites. Linking the two suits each side, and it creates a bargaining point that did not exist when exemptions were automatic. Worth flagging for technology planners, NAND supply in 2027 will depend less on any single factory announcement and more on how many of these paired approvals are granted, on what timetable, and with what limits on process generation.
The longer-term case here is still for stronger supply. A U.S. NAND source spreads geographic risk for buyers of enterprise SSDs and large cloud operators, even if early volumes are modest. Continued, licensed operation in Dalian avoids a sharp break in existing output while that added source is built. The industry has handled split production of this kind in past memory cycles, usually by moving tools and product types in stages rather than switching all at once.
