Nobody likes data centers and chips, chips, chips

September 3, 2026 17:40 JSTHope everyone's autumn is off to a chilly good start. This is Yifan, sending this week's #techAsia from Silicon Valley.I just came back from a reporting trip to Indiana where I got to preview SK Hynix's first advanced chip packaging plant in the U.S., which will come online in late 2028 and assemble highly sought-after high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips.I've visited a fair amount of plants and construction sites in recent years to document America's effort to reshore manufacturing, but I was still surprised when I saw how close the SK Hynix chip plant is to the townhouses and apartments right across the street.While local residents have protested and even sued the South Korean memory chip giant for putting this massive chip facility near residential areas, SK Hyni