SK Hynix broke ground on its more than $4 billion advanced packaging campus in West Lafayette, Indiana, targeting cleanroom readiness by October 2028 and high-bandwidth memory mass production from the third quarter of 2029, with HBM wafers fabricated in South Korea packaged and tested in the United States for AI customers. At a Purdue University campus ceremony, three Korean War veterans—Robert Brown, 99, Francis R. Williamson, 96, and Norman Heaton, 95—received a standing ovation, and the company said it is joining a Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation hiring platform for departing U.S. Forces Korea personnel, a move framed around Indiana’s wartime legacy and local ties. CEO Kwak Noh-jung cast the fab as a pillar of the next-generation AI memory ecosystem and shared community growth. Governor Mike Braun stressed communication and a net benefit for Indiana amid spreading U.S. pushback on AI infrastructure over power and water, noting litigation over the site’s residential-to-industrial rezoning, while Senator Todd Young argued tariffs and CHIPS Act tools should focus on strategic domestic production. Federal support includes up to $458 million in grants and $500 million in loans, with about 1,000 on-site jobs and roughly 7,000 direct and indirect roles expected; shares had risen 2.3% to $161.61 on the groundbreaking, with a Wall Street consensus Buy and about a $248 average target.