New Silicon Valley unit aims to back AI startups and expand the chipmaker’s role beyond memory
Silicon Valley, 30 January 2026 – SK Hynix has announced plans to establish a new artificial intelligence investment and solutions company in Silicon Valley, committing at least $10 billion to support AI-focused startups, technologies, and partnerships. The move signals a major step by the world’s leading high-bandwidth memory supplier to expand its influence across the fast-growing AI ecosystem.
The new unit, tentatively named AI Co., will focus on strategic investments and collaborations with companies working on artificial intelligence. Its initial priority will be strengthening next-generation AI memory technologies, an area where SK Hynix already plays a key role through its dominance in high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, chips.
In simple terms, SK Hynix is not just making chips anymore. It wants to invest in the broader AI world, including startups, infrastructure, and data-driven technologies that rely on advanced memory. By doing so, the company hopes to shape how future AI systems are built and deployed.
The company said the $10 billion will be invested gradually using a capital-call approach. This means money will be deployed in stages, allowing flexibility depending on market conditions and investment opportunities.
The new AI-focused company will be formed through a restructuring of Solidigm, SK Hynix’s US-based enterprise solid-state drive subsidiary. Under the plan, Solidigm will move its existing operating business into a newly created subsidiary that will continue using the Solidigm name. The current parent company will then shift its focus toward AI investments and strategic planning. SK Hynix noted that the AI Co. name is temporary and could change in the future as the business evolves.
This move highlights how SK Hynix is trying to stand apart from competitors such as Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology. While all three companies compete in memory chips, SK Hynix is aiming to combine its technical leadership in HBM with a strong financial push into the wider AI value chain.
By using its balance sheet to build an AI investment platform, SK Hynix plans to cover areas ranging from semiconductors and data centers to AI infrastructure and services. The strategy reflects a broader industry trend, where chipmakers are looking beyond hardware to play a deeper role in shaping the future of artificial intelligence.
As global demand for AI computing continues to surge, SK Hynix’s Silicon Valley expansion positions the company as not only a key supplier of memory chips but also an active investor in the technologies that will define the next phase of AI growth.
