US NAND factory could reshape storage supply for Apple

SK Hynix-owned Solidigm is considering a U.S. factory for the storage chips used in phones, computers, and data centers, a move that would reduce its dependence on China as Washington pressures foreign chipmakers to manufacture in America.

Upstate New York has emerged as the leading candidate, Reuters reported Friday, citing three people familiar with the discussions. No agreement has been reached, and the location, investment, capacity, and construction schedule remain undecided.

Solidigm said it regularly evaluates options to improve its long-term competitiveness but hasn’t chosen a course of action. SK Hynix similarly confirmed that it is reviewing options without committing to the factory.

The proposed project would be separate from SK Hynix’s discussions about producing memory chips at Intel’s planned Ohio facility.

Solidigm currently relies on one NAND production site, the Dalian facility in China. Adding a U.S. factory would reduce Solidigm’s dependence on Dalian while limiting its exposure to potential tariffs and restrictions on chipmaking equipment exports to China.

Washington and Seoul are pulling chipmakers in opposite directions

The Trump administration wants South Korean and Taiwanese chipmakers to expand production in the United States. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has threatened chip tariffs as high as 100% on companies that don’t make sufficient American investments.

South Korea wants SK Hynix and Samsung to continue investing at home. Seoul has urged both companies to accelerate construction of a domestic semiconductor cluster that could attract hundreds of billions of dollars in spending.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung acknowledged Friday that the U.S. and South Korean demands remain controversial. Lee said his government would protect South Korean interests while respecting decisions made by the companies.

One person familiar with Solidigm’s discussions said NAND is viewed as less strategically sensitive in South Korea than DRAM and high-bandwidth memory. NAND’s lower strategic sensitivity could make a U.S. factory more politically acceptable to Seoul than moving advanced memory production to Intel’s Ohio site.

A U.S. factory would still be more expensive to operate than one in South Korea. SK Hynix must weigh higher U.S. operating costs against tariff protection, access to American customers, and reduced reliance on Chinese manufacturing.

New York already has a growing chip industry

Upstate New York isn’t an arbitrary candidate. New York offers up to $10 billion in performance-based Green CHIPS incentives to attract semiconductor factories and suppliers.

Eligible projects must generally create at least 500 jobs and invest at least $3 billion during each 10-year project term. The available reporting doesn’t indicate that Solidigm has requested incentives or selected a specific New York site.

Micron is already developing a planned $100 billion memory-chip complex in Clay, near Syracuse. The workforce and supplier network developing around Micron could make upstate New York more attractive to another memory manufacturer.

New York also has semiconductor operations and research facilities connected to companies including GlobalFoundries, IBM, and Wolfspeed. New York promotes its workforce, research facilities, and available industrial sites as it competes for federal and private chip investment.

Solidigm’s business is focused on AI storage

The AI boom is usually discussed in terms of GPUs and high-bandwidth memory, but data centers also need persistent storage. Solidigm specializes in enterprise SSDs, including high-capacity drives intended for AI infrastructure.

A NAND factory would address a different part of the AI supply chain than SK Hynix’s existing U.S. project. SK Hynix broke ground in August on a more than $4 billion HBM packaging and testing facility in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The Indiana facility will receive wafers manufactured in South Korea and is scheduled to begin mass production during the second half of 2029. A Solidigm factory would add U.S. NAND fabrication outside China rather than perform only packaging and testing.

iPhone 18 Pro

NAND stores data in phones, computers, and data centers, while HBM provides high-speed working memory for AI accelerators. The proposed factory’s product mix hasn’t been determined, making it too early to predict which markets or customers would receive its chips.

The report doesn’t identify Apple as a Solidigm customer or suggest that the plant would make storage for iPhones, iPads, or Macs. Any Apple connection remains indirect through the wider NAND market.

SK Hynix formed Solidigm after agreeing to acquire Intel’s NAND and SSD business for $9 billion. The first phase closed in 2021 and included Intel’s SSD operations and the Dalian factory.

Solidigm later endured years of losses during a prolonged NAND downturn. AI data-center spending has since strengthened memory demand, but construction would take years.

The factory wouldn’t provide dependable capacity as soon as construction ended. Solidigm would still need to install equipment, raise production to commercially viable yields, and qualify the factory’s output for customers.

A U.S. factory would shift Solidigm’s risks rather than eliminate them. Solidigm would gain geographic redundancy and reduce its exposure to China, but it would accept higher production costs and the execution risks of bringing a new semiconductor factory online.