Micron Technology searches for site for $40B factory. Is Boise among the contenders?
Micron Technology Inc. is reported to be scouting several locations for a plant with an investment of more than $40 billion, but apparently Boise is not on the list.
The Boise-based memory-chip maker is considering sites in Arizona, California, Texas and North Carolina, the Triangle Business Journal in Raleigh, North Carolina, reported, citing multiple unnamed sources. A company spokesperson would not say Thursday whether Boise is among the candidates.
The Austin Business Journal, also citing unnamed sources, said Micron is considering central Texas “for a massive fabrication facility.”
The frenzied search is underway as Micron and other semiconductor companies respond to a worldwide chip shortage that has impeded manufacturing of cars and other products. Sources told the Journal that the project is on an “accelerated timeline.”
Last fall, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra announced that Micron planned to invest more than $150 billion over 10 years to expand existing chip-production plants and possibly build new ones. Micron said it plans to grow as the demand for its chips grows amid the rise of artificial intelligence, 5G phones, autonomous vehicles and server farms.
“Locations are being vetted across a number of factors including site availability suitable for a fab, access to a strong talent pool, reliable and cost-competitive utility services, alignment with our corporate sustainability objectives, and a favorable regulatory environment,” Micron said in a statement emailed Thursday to the Idaho Statesman. “In the U.S., we’re engaging in discussions with multiple states and will provide updates as the process continues and at the appropriate time.”
Micron would not confirm to the Triangle Business Journal or to its sister publications that it’s considering sites in the four states listed.
“There are multiple factors that inform our decision to invest billions of dollars to construct and operate a fab,” Micron said in its statement to the Statesman. ”We will share specific locations as we close on unique investment targets.”
Analysts say the chip supply is improving, but it’s uncertain when it will reach prepandemic levels, AP said. The average gas-powered vehicle has about 1,000 chips, while electric vehicles can have more than double that number.
Micron is ranked No. 4 among the world’s largest semiconductor companies, according to Gartner Inc., an industry analyst. Intel tops the list, followed by Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix, which make memory chips and are Micron’s principal competitors. Qualcom is fifth, followed by Broadcom and Texas Instruments.
Last month, Micron announced it will open a new memory-chip design center in Atlanta this month. The center, the company’s first move into Georgia, will create up to 500 jobs in computer hardware, electrical engineering and related fields, the company said.
In North Carolina, Micron is eyeing a 2,150-acre site southwest of Raleigh. The business journal described it as a “prime location for a large economic development project.”
In the Phoenix area, three state land sites were identified as prime spots for the plant. The Arizona locations, in north Phoenix, Goodyear and Queen Creek, were considered by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. for a $17 billion chipmaking plant. Samsung eventually chose a site outside Austin, Texas, for the factory.
The sudden interest in domestic chip-making is in part connected to passage of the CHIPS Act, a congressional bill meant to stimulate investment of chip production in the United States. The $52 billion bill, which has stalled in the U.S. House after passage by the Senate, would provide money for chip design and manufacturing.
Over the summer, a separate bill, the Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors Act, was introduced in the Senate. It would establish an investment tax credit to encourage semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. The bipartisan bill was co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, along with four other senators.
Chip manufacturing in the U.S. has decreased substantially over the past few decades as companies set up production factories overseas. Micron once made many of its chips in Boise, but ended production manufacturing here in 2009.
Micron’s headquarters campus in Southeast Boise has transformed into the company’s primary research-and-development center, employing highly educated engineers and scientists from around the world. Until it announced the Georgia center, Micron had said that Boise had the only American research and development center for dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, Micron’s principal product.
The company employs about 5,600 people in Boise, making it the largest for-profit employer in Idaho’s Treasure Valley. It still has fabrication units on its main campus for research and testing. Chips for sale are manufactured at a U.S. plant in Virginia, and in Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and China. Micron also made chips in Utah until selling its plant to Texas Instruments in October.
The chip shortage has severely affected the auto industry. Many new car dealers have struggled to keep lots full while used car dealers have seen prices soar.
On Tuesday, GM reported sales fell 13% last year from 2020, to just over 2.2 million, despite strong demand, the Associated Press reported. Toyota, which became the nation’s top-selling automaker for the first time last year, reported sales increased 10.4%, to just over 2.3 million. The Japanese company stockpiled chips and other key components, which led it to maintain inventories when its competitors could not.
GM, which held the U.S. sales crown for 90 years, and other automakers facing chip shortages closed their factories for several weeks early last year.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 3:42 PM.
