Micron Technology Inc is to spend ￥1.5 trillion (US$9.6 billion) to build a plant in western Japan to make memory chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, the Nikkei reported on Saturday.
The move comes as Micron seeks to diversify advanced chip production outside of Taiwan, the Nikkei article said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The new factory will manufacture high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component for working with AI processors such as those made by Nvidia Corp, the report said.
Photo: Bloomberg
Micron would build the facility within the compound of its Hiroshima plant, starting in May next year, with plans to launch HBM shipments in about 2028, the Nikkei said.
The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry would subsidize up to ￥500 billion of the costs for the project, the newspaper said.
Japan has already set aside about ￥5.7 trillion in a plan initiated in 2021 to rebuild the nation’s chipmaking prowess. The country is set to secure another ￥252.5 billion in an extra budget to further support AI and semiconductor development.
The budget, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet approved on Friday, is heading to the parliament for approval.
The government has awarded Micron’s Hiroshima factory ￥774.5 billion and has also provided funds to other companies including global foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and homegrown Rapidus Corp.
Micron is competing in HBM against South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co. Demand for the chips has surged from tech firms like OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc as they focus on training and operating AI services.
The race to build AI infrastructure has already raised energy bills in areas near large data centers. It has also lifted the valuations of the world’s top memory makers. Shares of Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron have in the past few months surged as inventories dwindle and supply challenges crystallize.
SK Hynix last month said that it had sold its entire memorychip lineup for next year, while Micron expects supply would remain tight into next year.
“Everything that’s related to memory — advanced or conventional — is in very strong demand and supply is lagging,” CLSA Securities Korea Ltd research head Sanjeev Rana said. “We are likely to see this DRAM and NAND price upturn lasting several quarters from here.”
Suppliers of logic chips, the kind that process data and are critical to building AI systems, may also see their business affected as their customers may refrain from placing orders if they can’t secure enough memory.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
RSS