SK hynix reportedly playing hardball with Trump admin over 3D NAND fab — company demands increased chipmaking equipment exports to China in exchange for US fab

Reports that Solidigm was considering building a 3D NAND fab in the U.S. came as a surprise last month, as no company has manufactured NAND flash memory in America for years. However, the potential investment now appears to be part of a calculated move by Solidigm's parent SK hynix, which is reportedly asking the U.S. government to authorize additional semiconductor manufacturing equipment shipments to its Dalian facility in China in exchange for a commitment to build a new NAND fab in the U.S., according to Reuters.

The Dalian fab is the world's only facility to produce 192-layer floating gate 3D NAND for Solidigm's data center-grade SSDs for AI, enterprise, and hyperscale data centers. Its manufacturing operations rely on equipment from major American suppliers, including Applied Materials, KLA, and Lam Research, whose exports to China require a license from the U.S. government. Although the U.S. authorities tend to authorize shipments of some tools to semiconductor facilities in the People's Republic that are operated by multinational companies like Samsung or SK hynix, they only want to keep the fabs running, as they are against expansions of capacity of fabs in China or introducing new manufacturing technologies to these facilities.

Solidigm has requested U.S. export licenses for additional tools, but the U.S. government has yet to authorize the shipments. Last December, the U.S. Commerce Department granted SK hynix a limited authorization for equipment deliveries to Dalian for 2026, but it has not issued a similar equipment export authorization for 2027, according to Reuters. In a bid to persuade the U.S. government to authorize shipments of necessary tools to its Dalian facility, SK hynix proposes to build a 3D NAND facility in America. This would fill an important gap in the Trump administration’s efforts to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S.

SK hynix's Solidigm subsidiary wants to install additional manufacturing equipment in the unused portions of its Dalian Mod B facility, which was completed in 2023. The company never fully equipped the building because of the memory market downturn at the time, so while some production tools are installed, substantial space remains unused and is available for additional tools. Given that Solidigm sells every single SSD it produces, unused capacity means lost revenue. Meanwhile, because the building was completed in 2023, installation of tools into that facility does not constitute a capacity expansion.

Additional NAND production in China could generate profits that Solidigm could use to finance its proposed American fab and support its operations until domestic manufacturing capacity becomes available. The company is also considering an initial public offering as early as 2027 to raise additional capital.

Solidigm has previously confirmed its commitment to further development of floating-gate 3D NAND technology. In an interview with Tom's Hardware at Computex 2026, Avi Shetty, who leads Solidigm's AI solutions and ecosystem business, said that the company intended to develop 5^th and 6^th Generation floating-gate NAND beyond its existing 192-layer technology. He also emphasized the importance of maximizing factory utilization and profitability. However, he did not disclose plans to expand manufacturing output at the company's Dalian facility, not to mention a new fab in the U.S.

Nonetheless, the new reports about SK hynix's intentions clearly indicate that the company not only intends to keep developing new generations of Solidigm's floating-gate NAND, but also to expand its production in China and the U.S.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.