Overview
- Micron broke ground on the ¥1.5 trillion expansion of its Higashihiroshima plant on Saturday, committing the site to make high-bandwidth memory with initial shipments targeted for summer 2028.
- Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has allocated up to ¥500–536 billion to the project and total incentives to Micron now amount to roughly ¥775 billion when earlier support is included.
- High-bandwidth memory, a stacked form of DRAM that moves data far faster than standard memory, is a scarce input for AI servers and the Hiroshima build is meant to boost Micron’s ability to serve data-center customers.
- Investors pushed Micron shares down about 5% after the announcement as markets weighed the large up-front cost, the long two-year build and tool lead times, and legal and competitive risks from dominant HBM suppliers.
- The expansion builds on Micron’s long presence at the site after its 2013 Elpida acquisition and it ties to Japan’s push to revive domestic chip supply chains while promising local jobs and stronger links with Japanese materials and equipment suppliers.