WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — State leaders unveiled plans Wednesday to build a $4 billion microchip factory in West Lafayette.
They say it is part of a larger effort to bring production back from overseas and start a new "silicon heartland" in Indiana. The plant could be up and running in about four years.
SK Hynix is a South Korean company that makes microchips and now wants to make the packaging that goes around the chips in West Lafayette. The company plans to build its plant at Purdue University's Research Park.
The university is home to one of the top semiconductor and microelectronics engineering programs. Students will be able to intern with the company while also providing a talent pipeline.
Wednesday's announcement is significant to more than just Purdue University and its students.
SK Hynix is promising to bring more than a thousand high-paying jobs to West Lafayette.
Governor Eric Holcomb said it's all part of putting Indiana on the map as part of a future "Silicon Heartland."
"This is from the north to the southern border in the state of Indiana. 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're going to win a knowledge based economy," Holcomb said.
The company said the plant will produce high-bandwidth memory chips that will help meet U.S. demand for semiconductors, develop future generations of chips and house an advanced packaging research and development line at the 430,000-square-foot plant.
Semiconductor chips are in just about everything people use: phones, computers, even cars. The chips made in West Lafayette will be memory chips that are a part of training artificial intelligence systems.
In recent years, the United States had been making fewer, increasing its dependency on other countries for microchips. The 2022 Chips and Science Act provided federal funding to boost manufacturing of microchips domestically with the goal of decreasing that dependency.
"It's a pretty obvious problem, but it had taken decades to really be addressed and I'm just happy we could be here on this day and Indiana could play a role in meeting this critical need," said Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana.
Young, who helped author the Chips and Science Act, said SK Hynix had applied for federal funding, but couldn't say how much the company would get, only that a decision would come this year.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered the company of up to $3 million in incentive-based training grants, up to $3 million in manufacturing readiness grants, up to $80 million in performance payments, up to $554.7 million in tax rebates and other incentives. The cities of West Lafayette and Lafayette, Tippecanoe County and Duke Energy offered additional Incentives.
Wednesday's announcement was touted as a new chapter in Indiana's manufacturing story, with SK Hynix, Purdue and Indiana as the authors.
The company is expected to set up shop fully in Indiana by 2030.
SK Hynix isn't the first company making this big of an investment in West Lafayette.
SkyWater Technology partnered with Purdue and the state to build a new semiconductor production facility back in July 2022 as part of the Chips and Sciences Act, but they haven't built their facility yet.
In January, the company sent 13News a statement saying they were committed to building in the Purdue research park, but the process is taking longer than expected.