Micron: government grant will kickstart $50bn investment
US memory giant Micron has officially announced its USD 6.1 billion CHIPS and Science Act grant, and says the cash injection will support a huge CAPEX project to 2030.
Rumours of the grant surfaced last week, and have now been confirmed. Micron says it will use the state and local incentives to support the construction of a new fab to be co-located with the company’s existing leading-edge R&D facility in Boise, Idaho – plus the construction of two more leading-edge memory fabs in Clay, New York.
The total cost of these projects will be around USD 50 billion. However, the longer term investment will be much more. Micron states that its "vision of an R&D and manufacturing center in Boise and a four-fab manufacturing complex in Clay, New York" will be built over the next 20-plus years with potential investment totalling up to USD 125 billion.
In addition to the CHIPS grants, Micron expects to benefit from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Investment Tax Credit, which provides a credit of 25% for qualified capital investments. Micron and the state of New York also established the Green CHIPS Community Investment Fund to support community and workforce development in the region.
Meanwhile, in Idaho, Micron will benefit from an incentive package including reduced state taxes related to the project and substantial investments in semiconductor workforce training programs.
Micron’s planned state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing facilities are expected to create approximately 75,000 domestic jobs over the next 20 plus years. In Idaho, this includes 2,000 Micron jobs, 4,500 construction jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs. In New York, this includes 9,000 Micron jobs, 4,500 construction jobs and 40,000 indirect jobs.
“This is a historic moment for semiconductor manufacturing in the US,” said Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. “Micron’s leading-edge memory is foundational to meeting the growing demands of artificial intelligence, and we are proud to be making significant memory manufacturing investments in the U.S., which will create many high-tech jobs. We appreciate the foresight of U.S. President Joe Biden, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the bipartisan delegation in Congress that supported the CHIPS and Science Act. Their steadfast focus championing these strategic investments will ensure U.S. semiconductor competitiveness for generations to come.”
