According to a South Korean media report on the 22nd, SK Hynix is in negotiations with Intel to acquire a semiconductor campus in Ohio, with the aim of producing memory chips within the United States within five years. On the same day, SK Hynix issued a clarification announcement, explicitly stating that "there is no fact regarding the advancement or decision to acquire Intel's Ohio land and wafer fab (Fab)," while simultaneously acknowledging that it "continues to evaluate various investment and acquisition opportunities."

SK Hynix has explicitly denied reports that it is advancing the acquisition of Intel's semiconductor campus in Ohio, though the company's general direction of building a factory in the U.S. has become largely clear.

On July 22, South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo, citing anonymous informed sources, reported that SK Hynix was in negotiations with Intel to acquire the semiconductor campus in Ohio, aiming to produce memory chips within the U.S. within five years.

The report immediately drew widespread market attention. On the same day, SK Hynix issued a clarification announcement, explicitly stating that "there is no fact of advancing or deciding on the acquisition of Intel's Ohio site and fab," but simultaneously acknowledged that it "continuously evaluates various investment and acquisition opportunities."

Despite the denial of the acquisition rumors, the pressure on SK Hynix to expand its production footprint in the U.S. continues. The company's Chief Financial Officer, Kim Woo-hyun, signed the aforementioned clarification announcement.

Report Claims Negotiations Ongoing; SK Hynix Denies

The Korean media report cited "anonymous individuals familiar with SK Hynix's internal situation," stating that acquisition talks with Intel had entered a substantive phase, with "internal review and government approval procedures underway," and that the acquisition price and timing were still under negotiation.

Intel's Ohio campus, located in New Albany and groundbreaking in 2022, has completed major foundational work such as concrete pouring and steel structures. The total planned area is approximately 4.04 million square meters, capable of housing up to eight fabs. Full development is estimated to cost around $100 billion. Intel originally planned to invest approximately $28 billion in the first phase to complete two fabs, "Fab 27" and "Fab 28," by 2025. However, due to difficulties in expanding its foundry business customer base and financial pressures, the factory operational timeline has been postponed to 2030-2031.

In response to the above report, SK Hynix issued a statement on the Korea Exchange's clarification announcement platform, explicitly denying the existence of any advancement or decision regarding the acquisition, though the wording left room, not ruling out the possibility of future related evaluations.

U.S. Pressure Exists; Direction for U.S. Factory Construction Already Set

Against the backdrop of denying the acquisition rumors, SK Hynix's strategic intent to expand production in the U.S. has been publicly confirmed through statements from top executives. On July 15, SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won stated at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Summer Forum in Jeju Island that "current memory chip prices are abnormally high, and supply needs to be expanded to lower prices," explicitly proposing that "we need to build semiconductor factories not only in Honam but also in the U.S. We are currently looking for a site and need to proceed quickly."

Pressure from the U.S. government is an important context. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, attending a Micron New York factory event on the 10th of this month, stated a desire to "summon Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to build production facilities in the U.S." The semiconductor industry widely interprets this statement as an extension of U.S. demands from back-end packaging processes to the localization of front-end production processes for memory chips like DRAM.

Currently, SK Hynix is investing approximately $3.87 billion in Indiana to build a High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) packaging production base, expected to commence operations in 2028. Samsung Electronics is advancing a roughly $37 billion project for an advanced foundry and R&D facility in Taylor, Texas.