Micron Secures $6.1B In CHIPS Act Funding To Boost US Manufacturing And New Fabs
The U.S. CHIPS and Science is in full Oprah meme mode as of late, essentially telling chip makers, 'You get a grant, you get a grant...everybody gets a grant!' The idea is to boost US chip manufacturing with some $280 billion earmarked to bolster the domestic semiconductor industry, and Micron has emerged as the latest beneficiary.
President Biden and Micron announced a preliminary agreement that will see the latter receive up to $6.14 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act, which will go towards the construction of three new fabs. One of those is poised to be a "leading-edge memory manufacturing" facility that will join forces with Micron's R&D facility in Boise, Idaho, while the other two will break ground in Clay, New York.
"This is a historic moment for semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.," 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."
Direct funding is only part of the package. Micron also anticipates hefty tax credits and billions of dollars in incentives. It all goes towards Micron's plan to invest around $50 billion in gross capex for advanced memory manufacturing in the U.S. through 2023.
All combined, Micron says its planned facilities in Idaho and New York will create 75,000 jobs over the next two decades and beyond. That includes 2,000 Micron jobs, 4,500 construction jobs, and 15,000 indirect jobs in Idaho, along with 9,000 Micron jobs, another 4,500 construction jobs, and 40,000 indirect jobs in New York.
The announcement comes on the heels of Samsung securing $6.4 billion to erect massive fabs in Texas, along with TSMC winning $11.6 billion for its Arizona chip fabs, both of which were also announced this month. Just weeks prior, Intel announced it has scored $8.5 billion in CHIPS Act funding. That's a commitment of $32.6 billion in funding in the span of just over a month.
"Semiconductors were invented in America and power everything from cell phones to electric vehicles, refrigerators, satellites, defense systems, and more. But today, the United States produces only about 10 percent of the world’s chips and none of the most advanced ones," the White House stated in a fact sheet outlining its preliminary agreement with Micron.
Micron points out that it's the only company making memory on U.S. soil. According to Micron, the new funding and fabs will give the U.S. a sizable boost in its advanced memory manufacturing market share, increasing from less than 2% currently to 10% by 2035.
Images courtesy of Micron
Images courtesy of Micron
