Solidigm, an American subsidiary of SK hynix, one of the biggest flash chip makers on the planet, is reportedly in talks with the Commerce Department over plans to invest $45 billion in a new plant to be built in the United States. But, Bloombergreports, there's a catch — Solidigm wants to be given the go-ahead to export equipment to upgrade its existing plant in Dalian, China. The company has purportedly told officials that the upgrades would allow the Chinese plant to then help finance the cost of its U.S.-based counterpart, according to unnamed sources. It's as-yet unclear how the proposal was received, or whether the Commerce Department is inclined to agree to the deal.
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The U.S. government has been keen to drive at-home manufacturing wherever possible, including for chips used in its computers and data centers. National security is regularly cited as a key reason behind the move. It's also the reason for the government's stance on exporting technologies to China, including the equipment that Solidigm says will help upgrade its Dalian plant. Similar export restrictions are in place for high-end AI data center components, with a black market having sprung up to take the place of sanctioned sales. Earlier this month, it was reported that some of Nvidia's powerful Blackwell Ultra B300 GPUs are being used in China Telecom data centers, with no explanation of how they got there. A 2025 report claimed that a cool $1 billion worth of Nvidia AI chips had been smuggled into China, a figure that is sure to have increased significantly as 2026 draws to a close.
In this case, Solidigm's planned Chinese factory upgrades could be mutually beneficial, allowing funds to be transferred to the new U.S. plant. But that requires the U.S. government to give it permission to ship the machinery in the first place, something that is far from guaranteed. The Dalian factory produces NAND flash memory, the likes of which are used in everything from relatively simple devices to full-blown data centers. It also comes at a time when global NAND production is a hot-button topic. Samsung and SK hynix are upgrading their Chinese factories to produce more of the chips used in AI data centers in an attempt to meet growing demand. Manufacturers have already slashed production of consumer-focused memory in favor of the more lucrative data center-grade components, causing prices to spike globally. This volatility in the market as a whole was given as one of the reasons SK hynix chose to cancel a planned Solidigm IPO earlier this week.
Beyond dangling a $45 billion plant, Solidigm has also allegedly told the Commerce Department that its total investment in U.S. manufacturing could reach $100 billion eventually, with construction in New York penciled in for 2027. The company is fresh from its latest earnings call, where it announced revenues of $75 billion with $60 billion in operating profit, and $28 billion in net. The company made no mention of its Dalian plant or a planned US investment, but did warn that memory shortages are set to last through 2030.
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Oliver Haslam has written about technology of all shapes and sizes for over 15 years, both online and in print. He's fascinated by how personal computing continues to change as tower PCs give way to foldable phones and beyond.
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