Micron Technology, a US memory chipmaker based in Boise, Idaho, on July 4 broke ground on a 1.5 trillion yen (US$9.3 billion) expansion of its Hiroshima plant in Japan.

The project will produce advanced memory chips, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI processors, with shipments expected around summer 2028.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has allocated up to 500 billion yen (US$3.1 billion) for the project.

Including research and development support, the Japanese government has committed roughly 775 billion yen (US$4.8 billion) to Micron to date.

The Hiroshima plant already produces dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). The new investment will expand the site into more advanced DRAM and HBM manufacturing, including extreme ultraviolet (EUV)-based memory.

HBM is used with AI processors because stacked memory moves data faster than conventional DRAM. Advanced AI servers can require 4-8 stacks per node.

The expansion comes as South Korea’s SK Hynix held 62% of the HBM market in Q2 2025, versus Micron’s 21%, and demand for AI server compute application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) is forecast to grow 35x by 2028.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg