Dive Brief:

• Semiconductor maker Micron Technology plans to invest $200 billion in U.S. manufacturing and research and development capacity, the company announced Thursday. 
• Micron will spend $150 billion to expand domestic memory manufacturing across its facilities in New York, Idaho and Virginia, as well as $50 billion on R&D efforts.
• The investment, expected to create 90,000 direct and indirect jobs, includes a new $30 billion commitment to build a second fabrication plant in Boise, Idaho, expand Micron’s Manassas, Virginia, facility and grow high bandwidth memory packaging capacity.  

Dive Insight:

Micron, which finalized $6.2 billion in CHIPS and Science Act funding last December, is one of many awardees upping their investments as the Commerce Department pushes chipmakers for more aggressive financial commitments.

Micron was awarded $6.2 billion to expand its Idaho and New York facilities, as well as $275 million to expand and modernize its Manassas, Virginia, facility, which will begin later this year. While the larger chunk of funding was finalized in December, Micron disclosed in a securities filing that it had finalized the federal contract for the Virginia funding June 11. The company is among the first awardees to see a status change in funding since President Donald Trump took office. 

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during a congressional budget hearing last week that the department is “renegotiating” CHIPS funding contracts “for the benefit of the American taxpayer.”

The list of CHIPS awardees increasing their investments continues to grow. Last week, GlobalFoundries, which is set to receive $1.5 billion in CHIPS funding, announced an additional $3 billion in U.S. manufacturing investments. And in March, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., slated to receive $6.6 billion in CHIPS money, committed another $100 billion in U.S. investment. 

Micron has announced several high-profile investments in recent years. In 2022, the company unveiled plans to invest $100 billion in Clay, New York over two decades to build the largest fabrication plant in the country. 

It’s also in the midst of building a $25 billion fab in Boise, Idaho, which will be further expanded under the new investment. The company now plans to spend $30 billion to build a second memory fab in Boise, as well as further expand its Manassas, Virginia facility. 

The investments aim to bring high-bandwidth memory manufacturing to the U.S., as well as expand dynamic random-access memory chip production. Micron said it’s on track to begin DRAM production in Idaho in 2027, and will begin construction preparation in New York later this year.

Micron expects to complete construction of the second Idaho fab before its first New York facility. The second Idaho facility will house its high bandwidth memory production. 

It’s unclear how much of its CHIPS funding Micron has actually received. Once contracts are finalized, awardees must meet certain construction, technology, production and commercial milestones in order to receive money.

Micron said in a Thursday press release that it has already achieved “key construction milestones” on its first Idaho fab. A spokesperson declined to comment on the status of fund distribution from the Commerce Department.