Micron to invest $40 bn in memory chips manufacturing in US

Micron Technology, an industry leader in innovative memory and storage solutions, headed by Indian-American CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, is all set to announce a whopping investment of USD 40 billion in memory chips manufacturing in the US, as President Joe Biden is set to sign the ambitious CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 at the White House on Tuesday.

Mehrotra along with several other leaders of the American corporate sector like Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel; Jim Taiclet, the CEO of Lockheed Martin; Enrique Lores, the CEO of HP; and Dr. Lisa Su, the Chair and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices are expected to attend the bill signing at the White House to mark the historic event.

The bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 will strengthen American manufacturing, supply chains, as well as national security, and invest in research and development, science and technology, and the workforce of the future to keep the US the leader in the industries of tomorrow, including nano-technology, clean energy, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence, according to the White House.

Ahead of the bill signing ceremony, the White House said Micron was announcing a USD 40 billion investment in memory chip manufacturing that is critical for computers and electronic devices and will create up to 8,000 new jobs.

This investment alone will bring the US market share of memory chip production from two percent to 10 percent.

Qualcomm and GlobalFoundries are announcing a new partnership of USD 4.2 billion to manufacture chips in an expansion of GlobalFoundries’ upstate New York facility.

Qualcomm, the leading fabless semiconductor company in the world, has announced plans to increase semiconductor production in the US by 50 percent over the next five years, the White House said.

The US Senate on July 28 this year passed the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act which authorizes more than USD 200 billion in federal funding to promote domestic semiconductor production.

The legislation also directs Congress to significantly increase spending on high-tech research programs that lawmakers say will help the country stay economically competitive in the decades ahead.

The CHIPS and Science Act provides USD 52.7 billion for American semiconductor research, development, manufacturing, and workforce development.

This includes USD 39 billion in manufacturing incentives, including USD 2 billion for the legacy chips used in automobiles and defense systems, USD 13.2 billion in Research and Development and workforce development, and USD 500 million to provide for international information communications technology security and semiconductor supply chain activities.

It also provides a 25 percent investment tax credit for capital expenses for the manufacturing of semiconductors and related equipment.

These incentives will secure domestic supply, create tens of thousands of good-paying, union construction jobs, thousands more high-skilled manufacturing jobs, and catalyze hundreds of billions more in private investment, the White House said.

The CHIPS and Science Act will establish a technology, innovation, and partnerships directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF) to focus on fields like semiconductors and advanced computing, advanced communications technology, advanced energy technologies, quantum information technologies, and biotechnology.

It will strengthen the commercialization of research and technology, ensuring that what is invented in America is made in America.

The Act will also reauthorize and expand fundamental and use-inspired research at the Department of Energy Office of Science and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to sustain US leadership in the sciences and engineering as the engine for American innovation, said the White House. PTI