Solidigm Reportedly Floats $45B US Chip Plant Tied to Dalian Tool Approval
Solidigm is in talks with the US Commerce Department on a $45 billion US chip plant, Bloomberg reported, conditional on approval to ship equipment to Dalian. No final decision is reported.
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Solidigm's reported US plant talks hinge on Dalian equipment approval; the $45B and $100B figures are unconfirmed.
Illustration (AI-generated)
Solidigm, the US-based NAND flash subsidiary of SK hynix, is in talks with the US Commerce Department about a $45 billion US chip plant, Bloomberg reported on Oct. 28.
The talks depend on Washington approving equipment shipments to upgrade Solidigm's plant in Dalian, China, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily's account of the Bloomberg report. Solidigm has told US officials that the Dalian upgrade would help pay for the new US site and speed up its development. Bloomberg also reported that Solidigm is telling Commerce the total investment in the US factory could reach $100 billion.
New York is among the leading site candidates, and construction could begin next year, the report said.
Why the tool licence matters
Washington revoked validated end-user status for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in August 2025. Because validated end-user status is gone, both chipmakers must renew licences every year to bring equipment into their China operations, the JoongAng Daily said, so the Dalian approval depends on a licence that comes up for renewal each year, and the US plant is now tied to it.
A yearly Dalian equipment licence is tied to the reported $45B Solidigm US fab; no final decision has been reported.
Illustration (AI-generated)
Seoul Economic Daily, citing Bloomberg, said SK hynix has made approval for the equipment it needs to ship into Dalian a precondition for its US investment decision. For buyers of AI storage, the link is capacity: Seoul Economic Daily reported that SK hynix concluded it cannot delay capacity expansion as demand for NAND used in AI data centers surges.
The IPO is off, the fab plan is not
The report follows SK hynix's withdrawal of its plan to list Solidigm; Voltgrid reported the halt of the Solidigm listing review on Oct. 23. SK hynix President and CEO Kwak Noh-jung said on Oct. 28 that Solidigm had weighed raising outside capital through an IPO, but that given current financial market conditions the company judged it would be difficult to raise the amount it had originally expected, Seoul Economic Daily reported.
Seoul Economic Daily added that Solidigm plans to reinvest earnings from its Dalian NAND lines into the United States. It said profits from the Chinese plant will rise sharply only once the expansion of the second Dalian fab, under way since the first half of this year, is complete.
What is not confirmed yet
Neither report describes a final decision. The $45 billion and $100 billion figures come from Bloomberg's sourcing and have not been confirmed by SK hynix or Solidigm in the reports Voltgrid read. No site, schedule or equipment list has been announced, and the Commerce Department has not commented in those reports. The size and timing of any Dalian licence also remain open.
