Source: Andrey Kulagin / Getty
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — At nearly $4 billion it’s being called the largest economic investment in Indiana ever. A South Korean tech company is investing that kind of money into the Hoosier state to build a massive microchip manufacturing facility in West Lafayette.
SK Hynix, Inc. announced on Wednesday that they would be taking about 90 acres of land in Purdue University’s Discovery Park and building a 430,000-square-foot factory dedicated to making semiconductors. The investment, they say, is largely due to the Chips And Science Act recently passed by lawmakers in Washington.
The Chips And Science Act was authored by Sen. Todd Young (R-IN).
“This will bring many benefits and opportunities to our students, faculty, neighbors, and partners,” said Purdue University President Mung Chiang. “We will be contributing both talent and innovation to our state’s economic growth and prosperity.”
The factory is a result of increased demand for what are called High Bandwidth Memory Chips, especially with artificial intelligence (AI) becoming more mainstream in our daily lives.
As part of the investment Purdue University students will be able to benefit by getting hands-on experience in developing the chips made there. In turn that will lead to job opportunities. In all, SK Hynix said they plan to hire close to 1,000 workers to staff the facility.
Gov. Eric Holcomb said Indiana beat out several other states to try and land the project. Phoenix, Arizona was among the cities that were finalists. SK Hynix said they chose Indiana because of its friendly business climate and its immediate access to talent.
“What is really separating us from the rest of the competition and why we have a little swagger is because of that talent that is absolutely necessary if you are going to win in a knowledge-based economy,” Holcomb said. “This stretches up to Notre Dame. This stretches down to Indianapolis. This stretches down to Indiana University.”
SK Hynix is getting a pretty good deal to invest here in Indiana. They are getting $554.7 million in tax rebates. They are also getting discounted rates for purchasing the land where the facility will be built.
They expect the factory to be up and running by 2028 and will be fully operational by no later than 2030.
