Micron begins construction of US$15 billion DRAM fab in Boise

Business news | October 9, 2023

By Peter Clarke

Micron Technology Inc. has begun construction of a memory wafer fab that will ultimately cost US$15.3 billion at its headquarters in Boise, Idaho.

Micron announced the plan to build in Boise 13 months ago (see Micron to spend US$15 billion on Idaho memory fab).

The spending will take place through the remainder of this decade and represents the creation of the first memory fab to be built in the US for 20 years, Micron said. The symbolic first pouring of concrete took place on October 5, 2023 on the 45th anniversary of Micron’s founding.

Boise is home to Micron’s corporate headquarters and a DRAM R&D facility. Micron is also planning an even larger wafer fab campus in Clay in upstate New York (see Micron to build US$100 billion megafab in New York state).

“Our investments here and in New York will secure domestic memory production in the US, meeting the advanced applications of the future’s demands for the vast amounts of memory required for fast and efficient data storage and processing,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron, in a statement.

Micron has also committed to invest US$75 million toward Idaho community and workforce development over the next ten years.

Cleanroom space is expected to come online in phases starting in 2025 and up to a ultimate size of 600,000 square feet. That is equivalent to ten football fields and will be, at completion, the largest cleanroom ever built in the US, Micron said. DRAM production will ramp over the second half of the decade in response to market demand.

The investment in Boise will be enabled by the anticipated grants, subsidies and credits under the terms of the US CHIPS and Science Act.

Micron said it filed applications for both its Idaho and New York projects with the US Department of Commerce’s CHIPS Program Office in August 2023.