Micron "10-Year Investment Plan of 176 Trillion Won... US Government Assistance Needed"

[Photo by Reuters-Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] U.S. semiconductor company Micron announced on the 20th (local time) a plan to invest $150 billion (about 176 trillion won) over the next 10 years, Bloomberg reported on the same day.

In announcing the investment plan, Micron emphasized the urgent need for government support to increase corporate investment within the United States. The company also expressed dissatisfaction with the political sphere. Instead of blaming companies for building factories only overseas and not investing in the U.S., policies that can promote corporate investment should be established, it pointed out.

Currently, most of Micron's production takes place in Asian regions such as Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. Summit Sandana, Micron's Chief Business Officer (CBO), said, "The cost of building semiconductor factories in the U.S. is 45% higher than in other regions." He argued, "Politicians should not complain that semiconductor companies are causing security risks by investing only overseas instead of building factories in the U.S., but rather provide benefits such as tax reductions and subsidies to enable production within the U.S." Sandana CBO added that Micron has not yet decided where to build semiconductor factories within the U.S.

Sandana CBO also mentioned that while the memory semiconductor market size is growing, the U.S. market share continues to decline. According to Sandana CBO, the memory semiconductor market revenue is $460 billion, and its share of the total semiconductor market revenue has increased from 10% ten years ago to 30%. This is because, beyond computers and mobile phones, home appliances and automobiles are becoming digitalized, increasing the use of memory semiconductors capable of storing large amounts of information. However, Sandana CBO pointed out, "In the 1970s, the U.S. was a major hub for global memory semiconductor production, but now its production share is only 2%."

President Joe Biden has emphasized the importance of the semiconductor industry, holding semiconductor policy meetings at the White House in April, including Samsung Electronics. The U.S. Senate passed the CHIPS for America Act in June, providing $52 billion to support core IT companies to invest in the U.S. However, the bill is currently stalled amid disputes between the Democratic and Republican parties over the infrastructure bill.

Bloomberg noted that although Micron's investment scale, competing with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, has doubled compared to 10 years ago, it is still weak compared to Samsung Electronics. It added that Samsung Electronics' capital expenditure is at the level of Micron's annual sales. It also reported that Samsung Electronics, which dominates the memory semiconductor market, is close to catching up with Intel in semiconductor division sales this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.