SK hynix flooded with unprecedented offers from big tech firms to secure chip supplies

SEOUL/SINGAPORE — SK hynix is being aggressively courted by big global tech firms with offers to invest in its new production lines and fund purchases of pricey manufacturing tools as they rush to secure memory chips, people familiar with the matter said. The offers, unprecedented in the global memory chip industry, underscore the severity of the component's scarcity around the world, as chipmakers struggle to keep pace with surging demand amid an artificial intelligence boom. Memory chips are critical parts in AI data centers, smartphones, PCs and other areas. The firm's customers have been proposing a range of offers to the Korean chipmaker, including investing in dedicated memory production lines, six people said. Another proposal involved customers financing equipment purchases such as ASML's extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, which are used to print circuits onto silicon wafers and are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, three of the people said. But the chipmaker, flush with cash, is cautious about taking financial commitments from customers, as such deals could hold it