The main entrance to Micron corporate headquarters in Boise, Idaho, February 3, 2012. REUTERS/Brian Losness /File Photo
NEW YORK: Micron Technology Inc says it plans to invest as much as US$100bil (RM464bil) over the next 20 years to build a factory in upstate New York to boost US production of memory chips.
The announcement represents the largest private investment in New York state history, according to a statement from Boise, Idaho-based Micron.
The company said the first phase investment of US$20bil (RM92.8bil), in Clay, New York, is planned by the end of this decade.
The New York site, which will generate about 50,000 jobs in the state, including about 9,000 high-paying Micron positions, adds to the company’s previously announced manufacturing facility in Boise.
The so-called mega-fab chip factory complex is part of Micron’s strategy to “gradually increase American-made leading-edge DRAM production to 40% of the company’s global output over the next decade,” Micron said in a statement.
Micron’s commitment comes after the US government passed the CHIPS and Science Act in August, providing US$52bil (RM241.3bil) to boost domestic semiconductor research and development.
The bill is at the centre of the Biden administration’s effort to reduce dependence on Asian suppliers like Taiwan and South Korea, whose homegrown companies are leading the market, and to address supply-chain disruptions and resulting price hikes for certain goods containing semiconductors.
The bill’s signing spurred US chip companies to plan billions of dollars in new investments.
For example, Qualcomm Inc is partnering with GlobalFoundries Inc, which also has a facility in New York state, in a USS$4.2bil (RM19.5bil) agreement to manufacture chips. — Bloomberg
