Micron Technology Inc. has announced plans to invest up to $3.7 billion (500 billion Japanese yen) in extreme ultraviolet technology over the next few years to introduce EUV technology in the production of memory chips in Japan, the company said in a statement.
The announcement comes after the U.S. chipmaker started mass production of its new high-capacity, low-power 1-beta dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips at its plant in Hiroshima last year. DRAM chips are used in digital electronics that require high memory -capacity, such as PCs, laptops, smartphones, and tablets.
Micron President CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said at the time: “We are proud to be the first to use EUV in Japan and to be developing and manufacturing 1-gamma at our Hiroshima fab. Our plans reflect our continued commitment to Japan, strong relationship with the Japanese government and the exceptional talent of our Micron Hiroshima team.”
During the celebration of Micron Technology’s 45th anniversary, Satoshi Nohara, the director-general of the Commerce and Information Policy Bureau under Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), expressed the government’s support for the company’s planned investments.
“Micron is the only company that manufactures DRAM in Japan and is critical to setting the pace for not only the global DRAM industry but our developing semiconductor ecosystem. We are pleased to see our collaboration with Micron take root in Hiroshima with state-of-the-art EUV to be introduced on Japanese soil. This will not only deepen and advance the talent and infrastructure of our semiconductor ecosystem, it will also unlock exponential growth and opportunity for our digital economy,” Nohara said.
