MU - Micron announces uses of extreme ultraviolet in Japan for memory production

2023-05-18 10:21:56 ET

Micron Technology ( NASDAQ: MU ) shares rose nearly 5% in early trading on Thursday as the memory maker announced it will bring extreme ultraviolet technology to Japan to manufacture the next generation of dynamic random access memory.

In a statement, Boise, Idaho-based Micron ( MU ) said it is the first chip company to bring the technology to Japan for production, aided in part by its Hiroshima fab. Over the next few years, Micron ( MU ) expects to invest up to $3.63B in the process, aided in part by the Japanese government "to enable the next wave of end-to-end technology innovation such as rapidly emerging generative artificial intelligence  applications."

"We are proud to be the first to use EUV in Japan and to be developing and manufacturing 1-gamma at our Hiroshima fab," Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in the release.

"Our plans reflect our continued commitment to Japan, strong relationship with the Japanese government and the exceptional talent of our Micron Hiroshima team."

Micron ( MU ) expects to ramp the use of extreme ultraviolet technology into its 1-gamma nodes in Taiwan and Japan starting in 2025.

Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, added that the partnership between Micron ( MU ) and Japan is a "major step forward" to secure the semiconductor supply chain.

"This partnership demonstrates how allies, when working together, can create economic opportunity and security in cutting-edge technologies," Emanuel added.

The announcement comes one day after it was reported that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was to meet executives from various semiconductor companies, including Micron ( MU ), to boost cooperation for the industry.

At a Wednesday press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the semiconductor supply chain "cannot be achieved by a single country, and it is extremely important to work together with like-minded countries and regions."

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