SK hynix has tapped Vice President Lee Woong-sun to spearhead its advanced chip packaging plant in the US.
Lee has been leading the South Korean chipmaker’s new US subsidiary, SK hynix Semiconductor West Lafayette LLC, since around the fourth quarter of last year soon after the unit's establishment, according to an SK hynix official on Tuesday.
Lee is tasked with overseeing the construction of an advanced chip packaging plant and an R&D center in West Lafayette, Indiana. Last April, the company announced a $3.87 billion investment in the new facility. In return, the US government awarded SK hynix $458 million in direct funding, as well as up to $500 million in loans as subsidies under the Biden administration’s CHIPS and Science Act.
The firm has also revealed plans to collaborate with Purdue University and local research institutions on semiconductor research and development.
The Indiana facility is expected to start mass production of the next generation of high bandwidth memory chips -- a crucial component of graphics processing units for AI processors -- in the second half of 2028.
A semiconductor veteran, Lee joined SK hynix in 2005 and has led key departments, including advanced packaging and module technology, and wafer-level packaging manufacturing. He has also played a significant role in the development and mass production of HBM.
SK hynix, a key supplier to Nvidia, is continuing to expand its HBM business in the US. Last month, the company named Vice President Ryu Sung-soo, an expert in HBM technology and DRAM product planning, as the new CEO of its US unit, SK hynix America, in San Jose, California.
sahn@heraldcorp.com
