Micron today announced that the company will invest $150 billion over the next decade. The investment will include potential U.S. fab expansion and meeting future-oriented R&D needs. Micron's investment will reportedly meet the growing demand for memory, which is essential for all computing.
Memory and storage represent a growing share of the global semiconductor industry and today represent approximately 30 percent of the semiconductor market. long-term growth drivers such as 5G and artificial intelligence will expand the use of memory and storage in areas such as data centers and the smart edge, as well as in automobiles and various user devices.
Memory is at the forefront of semiconductor manufacturing, powering everything from feature-rich 5G smartphones to artificial intelligence-enabled clouds," said Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron's president and chief executive officer. "Micron's leadership in DRAM and NAND technologies and the strength of our roadmap enable us to confidently invest more than $150 billion to extend our industry-leading memory innovation into the next decade and deliver differentiated products to our customers. We look forward to working with governments around the world, including in the U.S., where CHIPS funding and the FABS Act will open the door to new industry investments as we consider locations to support future expansion."
Manufacturing state-of-the-art memory at a competitive cost requires large-scale fabs that have the potential to create tens of thousands of new jobs and significant economic growth. U.S. memory manufacturing costs are 35-45 percent higher than low-cost markets with established semiconductor ecosystems, making funding to support new semiconductor manufacturing capacity and refundable investment tax credits critical to the potential expansion of U.S. manufacturing as part of Micron's targeted investments.
"The growth of the data economy is driving increased customer demand for memory and storage," said Manish Bhatia, Micron's executive vice president of global operations. "Leading large-scale memory manufacturing requires the production of advanced semiconductor technologies that drive the laws of physics, and our markets require cost-competitive operations. Continued government support is critical for Micron to ensure supply chain resiliency and strengthen technology leadership over the long term."
For its part, Nikkei reported that the company declined to comment on media reports that it is considering building additional plants in Japan, saying in a statement to Nikkei Asia, "We are evaluating locations and engaging with governments in multiple countries around the world and will provide updates. The process continues in due course ...... While we are evaluating a number of potential global expansion sites, we have not finalized any expansion investments at this time, including those speculated in the media."
Micron also made clear that financial support, including in the form of tax credits, would be a key factor in its decision on where to invest, saying that manufacturing costs in the U.S. are 35-45 percent higher than in countries with established chip supply chains.
Micron has manufacturing sites in the U.S., Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore, and operates chip packaging plants in China and Malaysia. The company's most important dynamic random access memory manufacturing site is in Taiwan, and its most important flash memory manufacturing site is in Singapore. DRAM and flash memory chips are essential for smartphones, data centers, computers, automobiles, and countless other items.
flash memory chips explained
Micron's announcement comes just days after TSMC, the world's largest foundry chipmaker, said it would build its first chip factory in Japan as part of the Taiwanese company's global expansion strategy in response to calls from major economies for domestic chip Production. TSMC has also pledged $100 billion by 2023 to help ease the global chip shortage. The Japanese government is expected to subsidize half of the estimated ¥1 trillion ($8.8 billion) cost of the Japanese project.
Micron Announces: $150 Billion Investment for Memory
flash memory chips explained
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