Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) said it will soon start making next-gen memory chips in Japan after agreeing to a deal with the Japanese government.
Bloomberg News reported earlier that Micron will get around $1.5 billion in incentives from the local government to become the first semiconductor company to bring EUV technology to Japan for production.
Micron said it will invest up to ¥500B ($3.6B) in 1-gamma process technology over the next few years “with close support from the Japanese government.” The government funding demonstrates Japan’s increased efforts to benefit from raising tensions between the United States and China.
“Micron’s Hiroshima operations have been central to the development and production of several industry-leading technologies for memory over the past decade,” Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said.
The company expects to ramp EUV into production in Taiwan and Japan starting in 2025.
“Today’s announcement between Micron and Japan to produce 1-gamma memory in Hiroshima is a major step forward to secure semiconductor supply chains,” said Rahm Emanuel, United States Ambassador to Japan.
Micron shares are up about 2% in pre-market Thursday.