Micron Gets $15-B From Japan To Develop Next-Gen Chips

Micron Technology Inc. is poised to land about ¥200 billion ($1.5 billion) in incentives from Tokyo to help it make next-generation memory chips in the country, Takashi Mochizuki and Ian King reported for Bloomberg News.

Photo Insert: The Micron deal will bring EUV equipment to Japan for the first time, a step toward the cutting-edge manufacturing the government has sought.

The US company will use the money to install advanced, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) chipmaking equipment from ASML Holding NV at its facility in Hiroshima to fabricate DRAM chips, sources said, asking not to be identified because the agreement isn’t public.

The funding is likely to be announced as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets Thursday with a delegation of chip executives, including Micron Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Mehrotra.

Micron shares rose 2.4% in premarket trading before New York exchanges opened on Thursday.

The stock had previously closed at $64.92. Tokyo Electron Ltd. led a rally in chipmaking gear suppliers, particularly those that provide gear or technology that support EUV. It rose as much as 6.4% in early Tokyo trading, while peers such as Lasertec Corp. and Hoya Corp. rose more than 3%.

The financing is the latest sign of Japan’s ambitions in developing its own semiconductor industry, a potential backup to Taiwan amid intensifying tensions between the US and China.

The government is already spending billions of dollars to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to add production capacity in the country, and to finance a domestic chip venture, Rapidus Corp., with aspirations to make 2-nanometer chips by 2027.

The Micron deal will bring EUV equipment to Japan for the first time, a step toward the cutting-edge manufacturing the government has sought.

The agreement is also a retort to Beijing, which launched a cybersecurity review of the Boise, Idaho-based company after the Biden administration leveled sweeping restrictions on chip-related exports to China.

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