Intel is now officially out of the NAND business in China. According to Chinese corporate registry filings first spotted by DigiTimes, Intel Semiconductor Storage Technology (Dalian) Co., Ltd. changed its name to reflect its full ownership by SK hynix as of September 1. The plant’s registered capital sits at $50.1 million, and SK hynix executive Young-Sik Kim is now listed as a legal representative.
This marks the final stage of SK hynix’s $9 billion acquisition of Intel’s NAND and SSD business, which was first announced in 2020 and completed in April of this year. The fab was Intel's first plant in China and was officially launched in 2010.
While production has continued under SK hynix’s control since 2021, the rebrand finalizes the transfer of all facilities and people. Intel Asia Holding exited as a shareholder in March.
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Shutting the door on future upgrades
The timing of this is hardly coincidental. Just days before the name change went public, the U.S. Commerce Department formally revoked ‘Validated End-User’ (VEU) licenses that previously allowed Samsung and SK hynix to import American semiconductor gear into China without case-by-case approval. That waiver had been in place since October 2022 and was set to expire in 2024. Now it’s gone for good.
The revocation hit both Korean firms’ mainland fabs, but it’s the Dalian (Fab 68) site that will feel the full brunt of the Commerce Department’s decision. While the revocation, which takes effect on December 31, doesn’t stop existing tools from being serviced or supported, it kills all hope of any expansion or upgrades to bleeding-edge equipment.
Right now, the Dalian plant is understood to be manufacturing 192-layer NAND. This is a stack inherited from Intel, which still underpins many Quadruple Level Cell (QLC)-based consumer SSDs, especially through Solidigm, which now operates under SK hynix. Without access to newer U.S. tools, Dalian’s future viability is significantly limited and likely won’t be able to transition to SK’s cutting-edge 238- or 321-layer NAND.
SK hynix now owns the name, assets, and market share, but what it doesn’t own anymore is the freedom to scale in China, which may be more difficult as Washington attempts to clamp down on semiconductor tools.
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