South Korea’s SK Hynix to establish a special ‘AI Company’ in the U.S.
Image of the SK Hynix logo displayed on a phone screen.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurfoto | Getty Images
South Korean memory giant SK Hynix It announced Wednesday that it will launch a new U.S.-based company focused on AI solutions, committing at least $10 billion as it leverages new AI growth engines.
The company is temporarily referred to as “AI Company or AI Co.” The new US entity, called , will serve as a hub for SK Group’s AI strategies and work to accelerate the technology in global markets, he said.
SK Hynix has emerged as a major AI player in recent years due to its leadership in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a type of memory used in AI chipsets. Nvidia.
The company’s expansion in the US comes as other tech giants intensify their investments in artificial intelligence, fueling heavy demand for memory chips.
SK Hynix said it will create the new “AI Company” by restructuring its California-based subsidiary Solidigm, an enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) maker created in 2021.
Solidigm’s operations later became Solidigm Inc. It will be transferred to a new organization called .
The planned investments in AI Co. are expected to be distributed on a capital call basis, with plans for further strategic investments in American AI firms to increase synergies between SK Group subsidiaries.
The announcement follows SK Hynix’s forecast-beating fourth quarter, which it also reported Wednesday, with profits rising due to ongoing shortages in the memory supply chain that have pushed up prices.
SK Hynix is accelerating investments to capitalize on this growing AI demand and has also committed nearly $13 billion to build an advanced chip packaging facility in South Korea.
Plans for a new US-based entity also coincide with the priorities of the Trump administration, which has threatened to impose tariffs on semiconductor manufacturers if they do not invest heavily in the US.
SK Hynix is currently in the process of building a $3.87 billion advanced chip packaging manufacturing and R&D facility in Indiana, announced for 2024. The facility will produce high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for artificial intelligence applications, and operations are planned to begin in 2028.
US President Donald Trump has also engaged in broader tariff negotiations with South Korea in recent months. But the president said Tuesday that Washington would “work something out” with South Korea after recent tariff threats, signaling a potential easing of trade tensions.
