One Month After Halting Purchases in China... US Micron to Invest 770 Billion Won in China

Released via WeChat... Investment in Packaging Equipment Undertaken
Micron CEO "Unwavering Commitment to China Business"

U.S. memory semiconductor company Micron announced on the 16th that it will make nearly 800 billion won in facility investments in China. This investment decision came less than a month after the Chinese government ordered a halt to purchases of Micron products in response to the U.S.'s comprehensive semiconductor controls.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

According to Bloomberg and other sources, Micron stated through China's social networking service (SNS) WeChat that it is committed to its business in China and plans to invest 4.3 billion yuan (approximately 768.2 billion won) in its packaging facilities in Xi'an over the coming years.

Micron explained that this investment will include purchasing packaging equipment from Powertech Technology's Xi'an subsidiary in Taiwan. It also added that it plans to establish new production lines to manufacture mobile DRAM and NAND flash products to strengthen the packaging and testing capabilities of this plant.

Micron emphasized that this investment will create 500 jobs, increasing the number of employees in China to over 4,500.

On the same day, Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron, stated in a press release, "This investment project demonstrates Micron's unwavering commitment to its business and team in China."

Micron's decision to invest in China comes less than a month after the Chinese government imposed a purchase ban on Micron products on the 22nd of last month. At that time, China prohibited its major infrastructure companies from procuring Micron products, citing that Micron had failed to pass the country's network security review. This raised concerns that the U.S.-China conflict over semiconductor dominance would intensify.

Micron's investment despite China's purchase ban has drawn attention to its potential impact on domestic semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, leaders in memory semiconductors. After China imposed the ban on Micron products, the U.S. government explicitly mentioned Korean semiconductor companies multiple times, emphasizing that they should not fill the gap left by Micron.

According to market research firm TrendForce, Micron held a 28.2% share of the DRAM market in the first quarter of this year, ranking second and competing with Samsung Electronics, which holds 43.2%, and SK Hynix, which holds 23.9%. In the NAND market, Samsung Electronics ranks first with 34.0%, SK Hynix third with 15.3%, and Micron fifth with 10.3%.

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