By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Commerce Division mentioned on Tuesday it plans to award SK Hynix as much as $450 million in grants to assist fund a complicated packaging plant and analysis and improvement facility for synthetic intelligence merchandise in Indiana.
In April, SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest reminiscence chip maker, mentioned it will make investments round $3.87 billion to construct the power that may embrace a complicated chip manufacturing line to mass-produce next-generation excessive bandwidth reminiscence chips, presently utilized in graphic processing models that prepare synthetic intelligence methods, the Nvidia (NASDAQ:) provider mentioned.
The division additionally plans to make out there $500 million in authorities loans for the SK Hynix mission, which is predicted to qualify for a 25% funding tax credit score.
The reminiscence packaging plant for synthetic intelligence merchandise and a complicated packaging R&D facility will create 1,000 jobs and fill a key hole within the U.S. semiconductor provide chain, the division mentioned.
Congress in August 2022 permitted a $39 billion subsidy program for U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and associated elements together with $75 billion in authorities lending authority.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo mentioned the division has introduced time period sheets with 15 firms providing about $30 billion in funding that “will unlock one other $300 billion of personal capital.”
The US now has main commitments from all 5 main forefront semiconductor chip producers – TSMC, Intel (NASDAQ:), Samsung Electronics (KS:), Micron (NASDAQ:) and SK Hynix.
“It means we in america can have probably the most safe and numerous provide chain on this planet for the superior semiconductors that energy synthetic intelligence,” Raimondo informed reporters. The division added no different economic system on this planet “has greater than two of those firms producing modern chips on its shores.”
SK Hynix’s West Lafayette, Indiana facility can be residence to a complicated semiconductor packaging line mass producing next-generation high-bandwidth reminiscence chips which are key elements of graphics processing models that prepare AI methods.
SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung mentioned in an announcement the corporate deeply appreciates “the U.S. Division of Commerce’s help and are excited to collaborate in seeing this transformational mission totally realized.”
Commerce in Might mentioned it deliberate to award $75 million to Absolics for establishing a facility in Georgia to produce superior supplies to the nation’s semiconductor trade. The deliberate award is to an affiliate of SKC Co, which in flip is a part of South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate SK Group, as is SK Hynix.