A Micron building in Shanghai on May 22, 2023. Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images
Micron Technology said on Aug. 20 that it plans to spend $10 billion on a new research lab in Idaho.
The company said it is the first dedicated memory research hub of its kind in the United States and will be built on a flagship campus in Boise, Idaho, where the memory chip maker is headquartered.
“With a planned $10 billion investment in Micron Research Labs, we are looking around the corner to the memory and compute systems the future will demand, bringing together the best minds across academia, government, startups and industry,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron, in an Aug. 20 statement.
The company said the institution will focus its research on critical memory technologies, advanced memory, advanced and compute architectures, packaging, future semiconductor manufacturing, and more.
The company added that the lab will be connected to Micron’s research and technology footprint across the United States, Europe, Japan, India, Singapore, and Taiwan.
This investment builds on the company’s plan to invest more than $250 billion in manufacturing and research and development in the United States.
The company said the investment will create more than 90,000 jobs and reinforce American leadership in memory and advanced manufacturing.
“The decisions we make today will determine who leads the AI economy of tomorrow, and America’s AI future will be built on American-made memory,” Mehrotra said.
Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios said the lab advances the Trump administration’s mission to secure the nation’s technological edge and accelerates the path to the nation’s Golden Age of American Innovation.
“Memory is fundamental to the AI era, and by uniting the entire innovation ecosystem here at home, we can help ensure the next generation of breakthroughs are invented, developed, and scaled in America,” he said.
Micron’s Surge
Demand for Micron’s chips has surged as they hold the data that processors, including AI chips, need to operate.
Shares of the company are up more than 673 percent in the last year. The company has simultaneously seen some of the most volatile trading days of any major company.
On June 25, shares climbed nearly 16 percent to $1,213 after strong
, posting $41 billion in revenue compared with $9.3 billion the same period last year. Its earnings per share also jumped to $25.22 from $1.68 during last year’s period.
However, shares fell almost 20 percent to $975 over the next week as part of a broader chip selloff. Over the last month, the share price reached as low as $739 and as high as $1,011, closing at $974 on Thursday after a 4 percent bump following the announcement of the research lab.
On Monday, Micron closed at $910.
