Shares of Intel and SK Hynix climbed in premarket trading on Wednesday following reports that the companies are exploring a partnership to manufacture memory chips in the United States for the first time.
According to a Reuters report, SK Hynix is in discussions with Intel about the potential deal. Under one proposed scenario, SK Hynix would lease space at Intel’s fabrication facility in Ohio. Alternatively, the companies could establish a joint venture that might include major cloud computing firms, though other structures are also being considered.
The talks remain exploratory, and no final decisions have been reached, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Both Intel and SK Hynix declined to immediately comment on the report.
For Intel, securing a major customer like SK Hynix would represent a significant victory for its foundry business, a core component of CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s strategic vision to attract prominent clients to U.S.-based manufacturing operations.
SK Hynix is a leading global supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a critical component used in Nvidia’s AI chips, as well as other memory products essential for artificial intelligence applications. The company’s stock has surged 400% over the past year, driven by soaring demand and prices amid a shortage of memory chips linked to the data center boom.
However, the prospect of manufacturing advanced memory technologies like HBM in the U.S. could face resistance from the South Korean government, which considers such technologies sensitive, Reuters reported citing sources.
This potential partnership comes as SK Hynix already expands its domestic production capabilities. In August, the company broke ground on a $4 billion facility in Indiana, which CEO Kwak Noh-Jung described as a future key HBM production base in America by 2030. Earlier this year, SK Hynix announced plans to double its capacity over the next five years to meet “enormous” demand for HBM.
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