Micron announces $40 billion investment in US chip manufacturing

Karl Evers-Hillstrom

Micron Technology plans to invest $40 billion in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing after Congress approved massive chip subsidies, the company said Tuesday.

The Boise, Idaho-based chipmaker said that the investment will create 40,000 new jobs including 5,000 highly paid technical and operational roles and bring the “world’s most advanced memory manufacturing” to the U.S.

The announcement came as executives at Micron and other chipmakers joined President Biden at Tuesday’s signing of the CHIPS and Science Act, which will provide $76 billion in subsidies to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S.

Lawmakers approved the bipartisan bill late last month in a bid to reduce the nation’s reliance on Taiwan, China and other foreign countries for semiconductors that are used in electronics, weapon systems, cars and even appliances.

“This legislation will enable Micron to grow domestic production of memory from less than 2 percent to up to 10 percent of the global market in the next decade, making the U.S. home to the most advanced memory manufacturing and R&D in the world,” Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in a statement.

Intel announced in January that it would build a $20 billion semiconductor facility in Ohio that was contingent on new subsidies. Chipmakers GlobalFoundries and TSMC have also announced new investments.

Chip manufacturers spent record sums on lobbying this year to push for the manufacturing subsidies and warned lawmakers that they might pull their plans to increase U.S. investment if the chip bill didn’t pass before the August recess.

In recent decades, American chipmakers shipped chip manufacturing jobs overseas to Asian countries that offered lucrative subsidies. The U.S. invented the first semiconductors but currently only produces about 10 percent of the world’s chips, down from 40 percent in 1990.

“To the innovators, job creators and workers who have witnessed the slow erosion of America’s semiconductor industry, we will bring these jobs back to our shores and end our dependence on foreign chips,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at Tuesday’s signing ceremony.

Courtesy: thehill