Bloomberg News reported on the 4th that U.S. memory semiconductor corporations Micron Technology has begun building a high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production facility at its Hiroshima plant in Japan.
Bloomberg News reported on the 4th that Micron on this day began construction of a plant to produce next-generation memory semiconductors, including next-generation HBM used for artificial intelligence (AI) computing. The total investment is 1.5 trillion yen (about $9.6 billion·about 14 trillion won), and the Japanese government will provide up to 500 billion yen in support. HBM products produced at the new facility are scheduled to be supplied to Nvidia and others, with shipments planned for summer 2028.
This expansion is part of Micron's strategy to increase production in response to a global shortage of memory semiconductors. Micron is also building new memory plants in Boise, Idaho, and Syracuse, New York. Earlier, Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron's chief executive officer (CEO), said, "Memory supply shortages caused by expanding AI demand and supply constraints will continue beyond 2027."
Micron secured the Hiroshima plant when it acquired the Japanese DRAM maker Elpida Memory, which went bankrupt in 2013. Bloomberg assessed, "Japan retains global competitiveness in advanced semiconductor materials and equipment, but has lost a considerable degree of leadership in semiconductor finished goods production." According to Nosaka Kota, head of Micron's Japan unit, Micron currently sources about 80% of the semiconductor materials used at the Hiroshima plant from Japanese corporations.