Shares of SK Hynix jumped 4.9% to €936 after reports that its U.S.-based NAND subsidiary Solidigm has restarted construction on a long-dormant factory in Dalian, China — a move that could reshape the chipmaker's position in the red-hot market for AI data-center storage.
• A Four-Year Freeze Thaws as AI Demand Explodes
Solidigm resumed work on the second Dalian plant after construction was suspended for about four years.
The project originally broke ground in 2022 but stalled when a memory-market downturn killed the need for extra capacity. What changed? The spread of AI data centers has driven a surge in demand for enterprise SSDs, sending NAND prices up nearly tenfold in a year. That pricing power directly feeds SK Hynix's bottom line: Q1 2026 revenue hit a record ₩52.6 trillion ($35.5 billion), up 198% year-on-year, with ₩37.6 trillion ($24.5 billion) in operating profit — a nearly 5x rise.
• The Numbers Behind the Expansion
The new phase is designed for about 50,000 wafer starts per month; combined with approximately 100,000 at the existing facility, total Dalian capacity would rise roughly 50% to around 150,000.
Equipment installation is targeted for November, with mass production planned in the first half of 2027.
The additional output will enable Solidigm to produce its upcoming 245TB-class enterprise SSDs in meaningful volume.
• A Potential IPO Could Unlock Billions The Dalian expansion isn't happening in isolation. SK Hynix listed its own ADRs on Nasdaq on July 10 and is now exploring a separate Solidigm pre-IPO round of 5–10 trillion won ($3.5–$7 billion) ahead of a potential Nasdaq listing.
Analyst Kim Young-gun at Mirae Asset estimated a partial Solidigm sale could give the group about $15 billion in additional U.S. investment capacity. A bigger, higher-capacity Dalian fab makes the subsidiary more attractive to outside investors.
• Geopolitical Risk Hasn't Disappeared
Solidigm's Dalian fab has been unable to receive the most advanced chipmaking tools due to U.S. export restrictions.
Annual U.S. licenses granted late last year allow equipment shipments through 2026, enabling upgrades — but those permits could tighten. Any reversal would cap the factory's long-term technology roadmap, even as SK Hynix simultaneously pours $38 billion into new domestic fabs in South Korea as a hedge. Investors cheering today's pop should weigh that political uncertainty against the undeniable pull of AI-driven storage demand.