Micron Technology Inc., one of the world’s top manufacturers of memory chips, will spend $40 billion through 2030 to expand its semiconductor production capacity in the U.S.

The company announced the plan today.

Boise, Idaho-based Micron is a major supplier of DRAM memory. The company’s DRAM chips can be found in a variety of devices ranging from smartphones to data center servers. Micron also develops more specialized memory products, such as GDDR6 DRAM chips, which are used by graphics cards to store the data that they’re processing.

Micron’s other main focus area is the flash storage market. The company supplies flash chips for both consumer devices and the enterprise. Micron sells flash chips based on industry-standard NAND technology as well as NOR technology, which is primarily used to support applications that require the ability to read data at especially high speeds.

Micron intends to implement its $40 billion plan to expand its U.S. chip manufacturing capacity through 2030. The initiative is supported by anticipated grants and credits set to be provided through the CHIPS and Science Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law today.

“I thank President Biden, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and the full administration as well as members of Congress for their bipartisan support of the CHIPS and Science Act, which is an important step toward solidifying American semiconductor leadership for decades to come,” said Micron Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra.

Micron plans to implement the investment plan in multiple phases and expects to begin production during the second half of the decade. From there, Micron’s strategy will involve “ramping overall supply in line with industry demand trends.” 

Micron expects that the investment will increase the percentage of memory chips produced in the U.S. from less than 2% today to 10% over the next decade. Along the way, Micron will create 40,000 new jobs in the U.S. including about 5,000 highly paid technical and operational roles.

Micron’s U.S. memory fab is based in the city of Manassas, Virginia. The company has reportedly inked an agreement that gives it the option to purchase an 18.12-acre plot next to the fab within three years. Micron today didn’t provide detailed information about its investment plan, such as where it might build new memory chip fabs, but stated that it intends to share more details in the coming weeks.

Micron is making significant investments not only in chip manufacturing but also research and development. According to the company, it spent more than $3 billion on research and development in 2021. Last December, the company announced plans to open a memory design hub in Atlanta with 500 staffers.

One of the core priorities of Micron’s research roadmap is to increase the number of layers in its flash chips.

A flash chip is made of circuits known as memory cells that store data in the form of electricity. During manufacturing, memory cells are stacked vertically in upwards of hundreds of layers, each of which can store data. This approach enables manufacturers such as Micron to increase the number of cells that can be added to a flash chip and thereby increase the amount of data that can be stored onboard. 

Micron in July debuted a new NAND flash technology that includes 232 layers of memory cells, a new industry record. The company says that the technology provides higher capacity and better energy efficiency than its previous-generation NAND chips. Additionally, Micron is promising faster data read and write operations.

Micro is also enhancing the technology powering its DRAM chips, the other major component of its product portfolio. The company last year debuted a new DRAM manufacturing process that provides the ability to etch transistors into memory wafers more efficiently than earlier technology. The result, according to Micron, is a 40% improvement in memory density.

Overall, Micron plans to spend more than $150 billion on memory production and development in the next decade. Over the past few quarters, several other chipmakers have also announced multibillion-dollar initiatives to expand their manufacturing capacity in the U.S.

Photo: Micron