Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra emphasized his pride in the company’s US investment, which totals approximately $250 billion and is centered on its Boise, Idaho, fab. At the same time, the competitive dynamics in the HBM market and pressure from targeted US government tariffs are drawing attention as factors behind the company’s differentiation strategy.
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra highlighted the company’s large-scale US investment and outlined a differentiation strategy aimed at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. In an interview with CNBC, he published photos from a construction site in Boise and described the US investment as the “largest-scale US memory manufacturing project.” Micron is investing a total of $250 billion across the United States to build memory fabs, with large-scale sites in Boise, Syracuse, New York, and Clay.
The investment plan comes as US Commerce Secretary Lutnick has indicated that tariffs targeting South Korean companies could be introduced. Micron has emphasized the strength of its US-based front-end memory manufacturing and suggested that local production could command a price premium. The start of operations at the first fab has been brought forward to mid-2027, while the second fab is targeted for completion by the end of 2028. Approximately 8,000 workers are engaged at the Boise site.
In the HBM market, Samsung’s share has expanded to 33%, while SK hynix’s share has declined to around 50%. Micron holds an 18% share of the HBM market and plans to increase its HBM manufacturing capacity to approximately 100,000 wafers per month by year-end. As HBM4 moves toward mass production, the competitive landscape is expected to shift further in tandem with rising demand for NVIDIA’s next-generation AI accelerators.
In general-purpose DRAM, China’s CXMT has expanded its market share to 10%. As a result, the combined share of the three leading companies has declined, while CXMT has announced plans to eventually expand production capacity to as many as 600,000 wafers. Micron indicated that it aims to strengthen its competitiveness by pursuing a dramatic improvement in supply capacity alongside its US investment.