SEOUL, August 06 (AJU PRESS) -- SK hynix will receive up to $450 million in subsidies from the U.S. government for its investment in a semiconductor packaging facility in Indiana, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has signed a preliminary memorandum of terms with the Korean chipmaker to provide the federal grants needed to establish a high-bandwidth memory (HBM) advanced packaging fabrication and research and development facility.
In addition, SK hynix will receive a $500 million loan and up to 25 percent in tax credits on its U.S. investments from the Treasury Department.
The company plans to invest $3.87 billion in West Lafayette, Indiana, to build a memory packaging plant for artificial intelligence (AI) products and an advanced packaging R&D facility. The department said the project is expected to create about 1,000 new jobs and address a critical gap in the U.S. semiconductor supply chain.
The subsidy package, representing 11.6 percent of SK hynix's total investment, surpasses the ratios offered to Taiwan's TSMC (10.2 percent) and Intel (8.5 percent). It falls slightly short of the 14.2 percent awarded to Samsung Electronics for its Texas plant investment. Samsung will receive $6.4 billion for its $45 billion investment.
“Today’s historic announcement with SK hynix would further solidify America’s AI hardware supply chain in a way no other country on earth can match, with every major player in advanced semiconductor manufacturing and packaging building or expanding on our shores,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
SK hynix expressed gratitude for the U.S. government's support. “We look forward to establishing a new hub for AI technology, creating skilled jobs for Indiana, and helping build a more robust and resilient supply chain for the global semiconductor industry,” said SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung.
The funding is part of a broader U.S. initiative to encourage semiconductor companies to build facilities within its borders. The government has allocated $39 billion in semiconductor production subsidies and $75 billion in government loans to support domestic chip manufacturing.
Five major semiconductor manufacturers, including TSMC, Intel, Samsung Electronics, Micron and SK hynix, have announced their U.S. investment plans in response to the incentives.
In March, the U.S. government announced it would provide Intel with $19.5 billion, including $8.5 billion in grants and $11 billion in loans. TSMC will receive a total of $11.6 billion, including $6.6 billion in grants.
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