Micron is buying a 300,000 sq ft cleanroom fab site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) for $1.8 billion. Separately, it has broken ground on a $100 billion megafab complex in New York state, with up to 2.4 million sq ft of cleanroom capacity.
Micron fabricates DRAM and NAND at its production sites. A letter of intent says it’s buying PSMC’s P5 site in Tongluo, Taiwan, which makes 300 mm (12-inch) DRAM wafers. PSMC says the deal will strengthen its financial structure. Also, Micron will establish a long-term foundry relationship with PSMC on DRAM advanced packaging wafer manufacturing, and assist PSMC in enhancing its specialty DRAM process technologies at its Hsinchu P3 fab. PSMC will be integrated into Micron’s DRAM advanced packaging supply chain upon passing certification.
Ordinary DRAM and the more expensive high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for GPU accelerators are both produced by Micron. With AI training and inference needs increasing fast, demand for HBM is high and, together with DRAM, is in short supply and expected to remain so at least until 2027. By adding DRAM capacity in Taiwan, at a cost of $6,000/sq ft cleanroom capacity, it can optimize its HBM manufacturing and packaging in Taichung, Taiwan, Hiroshima, and Singapore.
Total cleanroom capacity, is not publily disclosed by Micron. It has fabs in Japan (Hiroshima), Singapore, Taiwan, and two in the USA: Boise in Idaho and Manassas in Virginia. The P5 fab is expected to contribute to DRAM wafer output beginning in the second half of calendar 2027.
The New York site will have four fabs, each with 600,000 sq ft of cleanroom capacity, at a cost of $41,667 per sq ft cleanroom capacity – seven times more than PSMC’s P5 fab. It has two fabs confirmed at the New York site, with two more planned. Production is expected to start in 2030, and all four are hoped to be operational by 2041-2045. Ultimately, Micron wants to produce 40 percent of its DRAM in the US.
Micron’s PSMC transaction is anticipated to close by calendar Q2 2026, following the completion of deal agreements and the required regulatory approvals.
