The government of Virginia announced that Micron plans to invest up to US$2.17 billion to expand its semiconductor manufacturing facility in Manassas to produce DRAM products for automotive, defense, aerospace, and industrial applications, expecting to create 340 new jobs.
The US Department of Commerce had previously signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) with Micron, which will provide federal subsidies of up to US$275 million for this US$2.17 billion expansion project at the Manassas facility under the CHIPS Act.
A statement from the Department of Commerce indicated that the facility will onshore Micron's 1-alpha process technology to the plant and significantly increase the company's monthly wafer production.
Micron did not disclose specific details regarding the production expansion. According to Tom's Hardware, DRAM products used in automotive, defense, aerospace, and industrial sectors typically have lower production volumes and do not utilize the most advanced processing technologies.
Therefore, it is possible that Micron's expansion plan likely does not require the purchase of expensive extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment. Given the total investment amount of up to US$2.17 billion, this budget should be sufficient to acquire multiple deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines priced between US$30 million and US$50 million each.
In addition to the Manassas facility, Micron also plans to invest US$100 billion in New York and US$25 billion in Idaho to increase DRAM capacity. The goal is to help boost the share of advanced memory manufacturing in the US from less than 2% currently to over 10% by 2035.