Intel and South Korea's SK Hynix are in talks over a deal that would put memory-chip manufacturing on American soil for the first time, according to a Reuters report citing people familiar with the discussions published Wednesday. Wall Street liked what it heard: Intel shares jumped as much as 5% in early trading, while SK Hynix's Nasdaq-listed shares climbed roughly 2-3%.

The two scenarios under discussion, per Reuters, are for SK Hynix to lease space inside Intel's sprawling, unfinished Ohio chip campus, or for the companies to form a joint venture — potentially alongside major cloud providers hungry to lock down memory supply — to build the chips there. SK Hynix's own statement kept things noncommittal: the company said it is "reviewing various measures, including establishing additional production bases, to strengthen the competitiveness of its memory business," but stressed that "no matters have been determined at this stage."

Why it matters

Intel has pledged as much as $100 billion to its New Albany, Ohio campus, but the project has been delayed roughly five years amid stalled CHIPS Act funding, tariff uncertainty and Intel's own financial strain, with the first fab now not expected until 2030 or 2031 and a second not until 2032. A deal with SK Hynix — the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, fresh off a blockbuster 2026 Nasdaq IPO that raised $26.5 billion — would hand Intel an anchor tenant for the mostly empty site and validate its bet on becoming a contract manufacturer for outside chipmakers, not just its own products.

It would also mark a historic first for the U.S. semiconductor industry, which currently produces essentially no DRAM memory chips domestically; that manufacturing is concentrated in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. The talks come as the Trump administration pushes chipmakers toward U.S. production, dangling tariff relief for companies that build domestically while threatening broader levies on imported semiconductors.

SK HYNIX: "NO MATTERS HAVE BEEN DETERMINED AT THIS STAGE."

The broader chip sector rode the news higher — the SOXX semiconductor ETF gained about 2%, well ahead of the Nasdaq-100's 0.76% advance — though not every stock cheered. Micron Technology, the only major U.S.-based memory maker, traded roughly flat, with analysts flagging that a Korean rival gaining a foothold in domestic memory production could chip away at one of Micron's key competitive advantages under CHIPS Act-era policy.

Nothing is signed yet, and manufacturing memory chips in the U.S. remains far pricier than in Asia given higher labor and construction costs and a supply chain still clustered overseas. But if talks progress, it would be the second time in six years Intel and SK Hynix have struck a major deal — the two previously partnered in 2020, when Intel sold its NAND flash-memory business to SK Hynix for $9 billion. Both companies are expected to face investor questions on the status of the talks at upcoming earnings calls, and any formal agreement would likely require sign-off from Washington given the CHIPS Act strings attached to Intel's Ohio funding.