HBM competition heats up! Micron Japan’s $9 billion expansion project breaks ground, production expected in 2028.

Micron Technology is accelerating its expansion plans in Japan to address the shortage of memory chips resulting from surging demand for AI chips.

According to Bloomberg, on July 5, Micron officially broke ground on its factory expansion project in Hiroshima, Japan, with a total investment of about 1.5 trillion yen (approximately $9.3 billion), mainly focusing on the mass production of advanced memory products such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM). The production line is expected to start shipments around the summer of 2028. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has confirmed it will provide up to 500 billion yen in subsidy support.

This expansion is a key part of Micron’s global capacity strategy. During the ceremony, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Yoshimasa Akazawa, stated, as Japan’s only domestic DRAM manufacturer, Micron’s investment in Japan has “immeasurable strategic value.”

The Hiroshima factory was integrated after Micron acquired the bankrupt Elpida Memory in 2013, and has now developed into a core manufacturing base for HBM technology. After the expansion, the factory will mainly supply high-bandwidth memory to AI processor manufacturers such as Nvidia, while striving to improve power consumption and transmission efficiency of chips used in AI servers and autonomous driving sectors.

Kota Nosaka, Representative Director of Micron’s Japanese subsidiary, pointed out that the outstanding advantage of the Hiroshima factory lies in its ability to quickly deliver cutting-edge high-performance products to customers, advancing next-generation chip R&D and production, and directly serving Micron’s global strategy.

Micron receives heavy investment from Japan, global HBM expansion race heats up

This expansion project has received support from the Japanese government. So far, the Japanese government has allocated about 775 billion yen to Micron, covering production subsidies and R&D grants.

Since 2021, Japan has continuously increased investments in the semiconductor and artificial intelligence industries, designating both as core strategic industries critical to national security. Last month, Japan released its industry development roadmap, planning to mobilize a cumulative public and private investment of 101.6 trillion yen in chips and AI by March 2041.

Minister Yoshimasa Akazawa stated, if other overseas chip companies plan to set up factories in Japan, the Japanese side will fully provide supporting assistance, sending a clear signal of continued efforts to attract foreign chip industry investment.

Micron’s Hiroshima expansion is also a typical case of global memory chip manufacturers rushing to expand production to meet AI computing power demands. The company is also expanding capacity in the US: building two advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Boise, Idaho, and starting the construction of a large production base in Syracuse, New York this January, with a total investment of $100 billion.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics are also accelerating chip manufacturing capacity expansions, intensifying the competition among the three companies in the high-end HBM storage market.

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