Micron breaks ground on new Idaho manufacturing fab
On the first of September Micron announced its plans to invest USD 15 billion in a new Idaho memory fab. Now, less than two weeks after, the US memory manufacturer has broken ground on its future fab in Boise, Idaho.
This will be the first new memory manufacturing fab in the United States in 20 years, as the company stated in its initial announcement.
“With this facility, Micron will closely couple R&D and manufacturing, providing synergies that will enable us to accelerate the production ramp of advanced memory technology. The investment, made possible by the anticipated grants and credits provided by the CHIPS and Science Act, also enhances Micron’s supply chain resilience and will establish a new strategic capability for the U.S.,” Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra says in a press release.
The new manufacturing fab is part of Micron’s larger plans to invest USD 40 billion through the end of the decade to establish leading-edge memory manufacturing in the U.S. Although the near-term demand environment for memory and storage is challenged, memory market revenue is expected to double by 2030.
The new Boise manufacturing investment is part of the Micron’s strategy to increase domestic DRAM production to 40% of the company’s global output in the next decade. Micron also states that it is in the final stages of its selection process for another high-volume manufacturing site in the U.S.
Actual construction on the new fab in Boise is expected to begin in early 2023, with cleanroom space coming online in phases starting in 2025. DRAM production is targeted to start in 2025, ramping over the second half of the decade in line with industry demand growth. Micron states that the cleanroom space will reach 600,000 square feet — the size of approximately 10 U.S. football fields and the largest single cleanroom ever built in the country.
“With today’s groundbreaking, Micron is helping realize a key goal of the CHIPS and Science Act: investing in local communities by creating good-paying jobs in scientific and technological fields that will power America's future and increase our competitive advantage worldwide,” said Dr. Alondra Nelson, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Acting Director, in the press release. “At the Office of Science and Technology Policy, we see abundant promise in the CHIPS and Science Act — and we are excited to highlight the commitment of Micron and other industry partners that also recognize this promise. Micron is taking bold steps to bring communities into a realm of unlimited possibility, and we applaud its vision and action.”
The investment will create 2,000 direct Micron jobs as the cleanroom is built out and production is fully ramped.
