Micron is investing $3bn in its Manassas, Va, foundry to make more chips for the automotive, networking and industrial markets.
The semiconductor giant is already the biggest employer in Manassas, located 40 miles west of Washington, D.C., and has negotiated a bunch of incentives to build the factory including unspecified tax breaks from the city and a $70m grant from the state of Virginia. The latter is subject to approval by the state’s General Assembly.
The development will create around 1,100 new jobs, adding to the 1,200 already employed in Manassas. It is not clear how many of those jobs will be in constructing the fab and how many are permanent. The investment is slated for completion by 2030 and will include a global research development centre staffed by 100 engineers.
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said Manassas “manufactures our long-lifecycle products that are built using our mature process technologies, and primarily sold into the automotive, networking and industrial markets…This business delivers strong profitability and stable, growing free cash flow.”
The initial clean room expansion is expected to be completed in the fall of 2019 and production ramp is planned for the first half of 2020.
The Micron Foundation also announced that it will commit $1 million to higher education institutions in Virginia.
