SK Hynix is seeking US approval to export chipmaking equipment to China as a condition for building a NAND factory in the United States, two people familiar with the matter said on 14 October, Reuters reported. Its US unit, Solidigm, wants to put additional tools into unused space at SK Hynix’s Dalian site. The request puts the US Commerce Department, which oversees export controls and has been negotiating semiconductor investments, in charge of a decision that matters to both the Chinese site and the proposed American plant.
Key points
- Solidigm has applied for an export licence to buy additional equipment for Dalian’s Mod B fab space, according to a person familiar with the matter.
- The Commerce Department’s 2026 licence for the site limits the quantity of equipment. It has said it does not expect to approve tools for expanding capacity or upgrading technology.
- SK Hynix says work on Mod B is authorised by the US government and that it is not seeking a capacity expansion there.
- One person said greater production in China would help Solidigm fund a US NAND plant.
Solidigm seeks more tools for Dalian’s Mod B
The space at issue is Mod B, part of SK Hynix’s Dalian facility that was built in 2023. Its equipment installation was left unfinished during a memory-market downturn, one person said. Two people said some chipmaking tools are already there, with room for considerably more. Solidigm wants to use the available space to make NAND chips, which go into solid-state drives used by AI and cloud data centres. The Dalian facility uses equipment from US suppliers Lam Research, Applied Materials and KLA.
SK Hynix gave a different account of what the work would do. “No capacity expansion is being sought for the Dalian Mod B, which was completed in 2023,” the company said in a statement to Reuters. It said the installation was proceeding in consultation with, and under authorisation from, the US government. Solidigm declined to comment, while the Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment, according to the report.
The distinction matters to the licence request. The people familiar with SK Hynix’s plans described the proposed equipment exports as a way to increase output in Dalian. SK Hynix’s statement describes the installation as authorised work that does not expand Mod B’s capacity. The Commerce Department has drawn its own line between allowing existing Chinese fabs to operate and approving equipment intended to increase their capacity.
Commerce Department licences govern the Dalian tools
In 2025, the Commerce Department revoked authorisations that had spared SK Hynix and Samsung from applying for licences for US equipment used in their Chinese fabs. The department called those authorisations a “Biden-era loophole”. It said it would issue licences so the companies could operate existing plants in China, but did not expect to approve equipment for capacity increases or technology upgrades. The change replaced a standing exemption with applications requiring the department’s approval.
The department issued SK Hynix’s Dalian site a licence in December 2025 covering 2026, with a limit on the quantity of equipment. One person said the department had not issued a licence for more US-made equipment and technology in 2027, Reuters reported. The same person said Solidigm had applied for an export licence to buy additional tools for Mod B. SK Hynix says the installation of equipment at Mod B has US government authorisation.
US restrictions on chipmaking-equipment exports to China are intended to slow Beijing’s development of advanced semiconductors for AI and military uses. At the same time, the Trump administration is pressing SK Hynix, Samsung and other foreign chipmakers to build factories in the United States to add manufacturing capacity and jobs. In Solidigm’s case, the equipment request places those two policies alongside the company’s proposed domestic investment.
Solidigm weighs funding for a US NAND plant
One person familiar with the plans said more production in China would help Solidigm pay for a US NAND factory and sustain it until more output could be produced in the United States. Another said Solidigm was weighing an initial public offering as early as 2027 that could also provide funds for the factory. AI Affairs previously reported that Solidigm had picked banks for a possible US offering that could raise $10 billion.
The proposed investment comes as memory suppliers face a different market from the one in which Mod B’s installation stalled. Walt Coon, a memory industry expert at TechInsights, said NAND prices had risen sevenfold since mid-2023. He expects supply to remain tight over the next few years. Those are favourable conditions for selling more chips from Dalian, although the additional tools Solidigm wants remain subject to US approval.
Solidigm’s possible US factory is one part of SK Hynix’s manufacturing plans. The company is also in talks with Intel about leasing part of its long-planned Ohio chipmaking facility, and it has broken ground on an Indiana plant for advanced packaging of high-bandwidth memory. In NAND, China’s YMTC rose to No. 3 among global suppliers in the second quarter of 2026, according to Counterpoint Research.
