Delayed Equipment Licenses Threaten SK Hynix’s Plans for Two U.S. Factories Worth $45 Billion
Key Facts
Reuters reported in an article published by Investing.com on November 4 that U.S. officials had delayed approval for chipmaking equipment SK Hynix needs to expand production in China, disrupting plans to build new memory factories in New York state. Solidigm, a subsidiary of the group, is targeting an investment of about $45 billion to build two NAND chip factories in Marcy, with the investment potentially reaching about $100 billion over time. People familiar with the matter linked the U.S. expansion to obtaining additional equipment needed for the Chinese factory in Dalian. But the company said options for building a NAND factory were still being explored and that it had not decided on a specific course of action. That leaves the potential U.S. project facing two overlapping tracks: obtaining additional production tools for China and finalizing a domestic investment the company has not yet announced as a final decision.
According to the report, Solidigm executives held about 10 meetings with U.S. Commerce Department officials since late August, seeking a license for additional equipment for Dalian, but the department has not granted it. At a meeting in the week before the report was published, Commerce Undersecretary Jeffrey Kessler maintained that the United States would not allow more U.S. chipmaking tools to upgrade the Chinese factory or increase its capacity, according to a person familiar with the matter. The position reflects a conflict between the company’s need to upgrade production in China and U.S. restrictions on exports of chipmaking technology. The report did not give a final decision on the license application. Solidigm also has not announced that its U.S. plan is formally contingent on Washington’s approval; the link between the two tracks was reported by people familiar with the matter.
Increasing production in Dalian has financing and operational significance for the potential U.S. project. A source told Reuters that expanding Chinese production could help Solidigm finance a U.S. NAND facility and provide a bridge toward increasing production in the United States. The company, meanwhile, said it was still exploring potential sites around the world for a NAND factory, without choosing a specific course of action. That statement confirms that the New York investment remains among the options under consideration, despite the scale of financing discussed in reports. The U.S. equipment license therefore remains a factor affecting the expansion path, while the company’s statements do not indicate that it has made a final commitment to a location or implementation schedule.
The deliberations come as SK Hynix expects memory supply tightness to continue through 2030, due to the difficulty of advanced processes and the lengthy time needed to build new production facilities. In the third quarter of 2026, the company recorded revenue of 104.6155 trillion won, operating profit of 83.3338 trillion won and net profit of 39.7756 trillion won. Revenue rose 32% and operating profitability increased 38% from the previous quarter. The company said HBM4 shipments had begun in earnest and expects the chips to surpass HBM3E in shipment volume and revenue in the fourth quarter of 2026. SK Hynix, meanwhile, halted its review of a Solidigm initial public offering, saying financial market conditions and other factors made proceeding at that time unsuitable for achieving the expected outcome.
In the market, SK Hynix shares listed in New York briefly fell about 1% after the report on the license delay was published. SKHY closed at $152.51 on November 3, 2026. In Chinese activity indicators, the Caixin/RatingDog manufacturing purchasing managers’ index registered 52.0 in October, down from 52.1 in September. The official manufacturing index stood at 49.3 in October, down 0.8 percentage point from the previous month, while the non-manufacturing activity index reached 49.7. The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing attributed the weak official reading to a decline in export orders linked to the Christmas season after September and weak domestic consumption following the National Day holiday; the private and official readings point to different trends in industrial activity in the same month.
The next reading of China’s Caixin services index is scheduled for November 4, 2026, at 01:45, while the previous reading was 51.6. The calendar page does not show a forecast for the new reading. The release follows the report on the license delay, while the path for the New York NAND factory project remains tied to Solidigm’s exploration of its options and the outcome of the application for additional equipment for Dalian. The company has not yet set a specific plan of action or a final location for the potential factory. SK Hynix’s outlook for memory shortages through 2030 keeps production expansion in the background of its investment decisions.