China Licenses Complicate Solidigm’s $45 Billion Plan for Two Chip Plants
Key Facts
A report carried by Investing.com, citing Reuters on November 3, said delays in U.S. approval for chipmaking equipment SK Hynix needs to expand production in China are complicating its U.S. expansion plans. Solidigm, a SK Hynix subsidiary, plans to invest about $45 billion to build two NAND memory chip plants in Marcy, New York, according to the report. Investment could reach about $100 billion over time, placing the plan among the large manufacturing projects under consideration in the United States. But the company has not decided on a specific site or path and has not announced a final decision to proceed with the project. The obstacle centers on licenses allowing U.S.-made equipment to be installed at its facility in Dalian, China, and production there to be expanded.
The U.S. Commerce Department has not yet approved the new licenses SK Hynix needs to expand production in China, according to the report. The report did not say the department had formally rejected the request to export equipment to fill unused clean-room space in Dalian. That distinction limits how precisely the status of the request can be described: approval remains pending as discussions continue. Solidigm officials have met Commerce Department officials about 10 times since late August, the report said. The frequency of the meetings shows that negotiations over operating requirements for the Chinese facility are continuing as the company considers its U.S. manufacturing options.
Reuters cited sources as saying that higher production in Dalian would help fund the U.S. expansion and that approval for the facility’s expansion is central to the New York plans. That effectively links the path of the U.S. investment to the company’s ability to secure the equipment needed for its operations in China, though Solidigm has not announced this as a formal condition. In a statement carried by Investing.com, the company said it was exploring potential sites around the world for a NAND plant. It added: "No decision has been made on a specific path." The statement leaves the two-plant plan at the exploratory stage, despite discussion of a large investment and a potential site in New York state.
U.S. rules require the two companies to seek annual licenses to install U.S.-made equipment at their facilities in China, according to a Reuters report on chip plant updates. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said in 2025 that it did not intend to grant licenses to upgrade technology or expand production capacity there. The negotiations over the Dalian request are taking place under these restrictions, which subject production expansion in China to repeated U.S. review. The companies are also negotiating a separate 2027 license for equipment intended to keep the Dalian facility operating. This process is separate from the request to expand production and concerns an operating license for next year.
The Dalian facility currently produces 192-layer NAND chips, while SK Hynix is seeking to move toward products with 240 layers or more, according to a Reuters report published on October 21. NAND chips are used for storage, including in data centers, making product upgrades at the facility part of the company’s plans in the memory market. The same report points to changing company shares in China’s NAND market. YMTC’s share was about 38.5% in the second quarter of 2026, compared with 28% during 2025. By contrast, SK Hynix’s share fell to 17% in the second quarter of 2026 from 20% in 2025, according to Omdia data cited by Reuters.
Media reports on October 29 attributed a plan to Solidigm to invest about 60 trillion South Korean won, according to an SK Hynix filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said in the filing that investment details had not yet been settled. In October, SK Hynix suspended its plan to list Solidigm in the United States and said it would continue to study ways to fund expansion and enhance shareholder value, including reviewing the timing, scale and financing of future investments. In the market, SK Hynix shares listed in New York briefly fell about 1% after the report, according to Investing.com, citing Reuters. The company’s shares closed at $152.51 on November 3, according to EL7 data.