SK Hynix Needs A Trump 2027 Deal To Expand Its Dalian NAND Fab

She notes that the Trump administration has urged Samsung and SK hynix to expand production in the US, but it is now hesitating because letting SK expand its Dalian factory means a compromise of its export controls.

She says SK hynix is using the AI-driven memory boom as leverage in the talks, turning its US investments into a bargaining chip with Washington.

“The global chip supply chain has long been tightly intertwined, so it cannot be cut cleanly. Washington's wish to bring manufacturing back home is obvious, but companies are not charities and they have to make money,” says a Sichuan-based writer using the pen name“Scientific Explorer.”

“A new plant in the US takes at least three to five years to reach production. In the meantime, supply cannot stop and customers cannot be lost, so expanding the Dalian plant is the right choice,” he says.

However, he adds that the public should not rush to take sides since the negotiation seems to have just started. It remains unclear whether SK hynix can secure its 2027 permits by year's end.

In October 2022, the Biden administration banned exports to China of machines that can make NAND chips with 128 or more layers unless a license is granted.

In late August 2025, the US Commerce Department said it would revoke the blanket exemptions for SK hynix's and Samsung's China plants at the end of the year, calling them a“Biden-era loophole.” On December 30 of the same year, it granted the two firms annual licenses to ship American chipmaking tools to their Chinese factories throughout 2026.

In October 2022, the Biden administration banned exports to China of machines that can make NAND chips with 128 or more layers. It gave SK hynix and Samsung one-year waivers and, in October 2023, made them indefinite by granting VEU status to the firms' China plants.

In late August 2025, the Trump administration's Commerce Department said it would revoke that status at the end of the year, calling it a“Biden-era loophole” that failed to help the US attract investments. On December 30, 2025, it granted SK hynix and Samsung annual licenses to ship American chipmaking tools to their Chinese factories throughout 2026.

The Dalian plant is the world's only facility producing the 192-layer floating-gate 3D NAND used in Solidigm's solid-state drives (SSDs) for AI, enterprise and hyperscale data centers. Its Mod B building, completed in 2023 but never fully equipped because of a memory slump, can start production as soon as the American tools arrive.

By contrast, a new factory in the US would take three to five years to go from planning to production. SK hynix's high-bandwidth memory (HBM) packaging plant in Indiana, which broke ground in August, isn't due to start mass production until the second half of 2029.

The gap matters because NAND prices have jumped about 700% since mid-2023, and AI data centers are driving a global memory chip shortage. Operating costs in China are also lower than in South Korea, making it cheaper and quicker to add output in Dalian than to build elsewhere.

Chinese state media outlets hope SK hynix will win its 2027 license as the arrival of more high-end American chipmaking machines on Chinese soil would echo Beijing's call for US-China technology cooperation.