Solidigm is seeking US approval to install more American chip equipment at SK Hynix's Dalian facility while weighing a US NAND factory. The reported linkage puts export policy at the center of supply expansion.
SK Hynix's Solidigm unit is seeking US approval to install additional American chipmaking equipment at a NAND plant in Dalian, China, while weighing a new NAND factory in the United States.
Reuters reported the linkage on October 15, citing two people familiar with the matter. Solidigm wants to use vacant space at the Dalian site to add NAND production, while a prospective US factory could reduce its dependence on a single Chinese manufacturing base. Upstate New York has been reported as one location under consideration.
The plan is not an approved transaction. SK Hynix told TechCrunch that it was not expanding the completed Mod B facility's designed capacity and said equipment installation was being conducted in consultation with US authorities. No final US factory decision, investment amount or construction timetable has been announced.
Export policy becomes an operating variable
Washington tightened controls on advanced semiconductor equipment shipped to China and later replaced some broad exemptions with annual licensing arrangements. That means routine factory upgrades can depend on government approval, even when the owner is a South Korean company and the equipment supports less advanced NAND production.
The reported proposal gives the US government two competing objectives to weigh. Allowing more tools into Dalian could increase Chinese-based output. Conditioning that permission on a US factory could diversify manufacturing and create domestic capacity, but only if the factory is ultimately financed and built.
For memory investors, the immediate issue is supply. More Dalian output could ease tight NAND conditions and affect pricing, while a US plant would take longer and carry higher capital costs. Reuters previously reported that a US facility could also help Solidigm manage tariffs and future export restrictions.
The evidence remains preliminary and source-based. Investors should not treat the US plant as committed or the China licenses as granted. The next decisive signals will be an official site choice, a disclosed capital budget, government authorization and a construction schedule.
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