SK hynix

What SK hynix makes

SK hynix is one of the world's largest memory chipmakers. It is based in Icheon, South Korea. It makes two main kinds of memory. DRAM stores data temporarily while a device works. NAND flash keeps data when the power is off. DRAM made up 77.1% of its revenue in 2025, according to its US stock offering prospectus.

In recent years it has sharply increased sales of high-bandwidth memory (HBM). HBM stacks DRAM chips vertically and sits close to processors such as AI chips. IDC data in the prospectus ranked SK hynix first in HBM in the first quarter of 2026, with a 56.4% share by revenue. It ranked second in both DRAM and NAND. Revenue reached W97,147 billion (about US$63.8 billion) in 2025, up from W66,193 billion in 2024. Its largest customer accounted for 23.9% of 2025 revenue.

History and ownership

The company traces its start to 1983, when Hyundai Electronics Industries built its first memory fab in Icheon. It took the name Hynix Semiconductor in 2001, during a debt restructuring. In 2012 its former creditors sold their stake to SK Telecom, and it became SK hynix. As of March 31, 2026, SK square, which was split from SK Telecom in 2021, held 20.5%.

In July 2026, SK hynix sold 177.9 million American depositary shares at $149 each ahead of its Nasdaq debut. The sale raised $26.5 billion, Al Jazeera reported. It called this the largest US listing ever by a foreign company. The common shares still trade on the Korea Exchange.

China plants and US export rules

SK hynix runs fabs in Icheon and Cheongju in South Korea and in Wuxi and Dalian in China. In October 2020 it agreed to buy Intel's NAND business, including the Dalian plant. It paid $6.6 billion in December 2021 and $2.2 billion in March 2025. It runs that business under the Solidigm brand.

Since October 2022, US rules have required licenses for many items sent to advanced chip fabs in China. SK hynix became a Validated End-User in October 2023, which let it supply its China plants without many individual licenses. A Federal Register rule ended that status on December 31, 2025. The company says BIS granted it an annual license for 2026 in December 2025.

On October 14, 2026, Reuters reported that SK hynix wants approval to ship more US tools to Dalian. Two unnamed people tied the request to a possible Solidigm NAND factory in the United States. On October 16, SK hynix told Tom's Hardware that it is not seeking more capacity at the section involved. It said equipment is being installed there under US government authorization.

Plans in the United States

SK hynix broke ground on a $4 billion chip packaging plant in Indiana on August 27, 2026. The ceremony was held at Purdue University in West Lafayette. The plant will package HBM made from wafers produced in Korea, Korea JoongAng Daily reported. Chief executive Kwak Noh-jung said mass production would begin in the third quarter of 2029.

In September 2026, Reuters reported that Solidigm was weighing a NAND factory in the United States. It cited three people familiar with the matter and named upstate New York as a leading candidate.