Project Officially Breaks Ground with $9.3 Billion Investment in Cutting-Edge AI Memory Production Lines
According to media reports, Micron Technology held a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday for its Hiroshima fab expansion project in western Japan. Valued at 1.5 trillion yen (approximately $9.3 billion), the initiative centers on manufacturing cutting-edge High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips, with mass shipments slated to kick off in summer 2028.
The Hiroshima fab traces its roots to Micron’s acquisition and integration of Elpida Memory in 2013. It was also here that the world’s first HBM silicon wafer—the foundational memory technology powering AI computing—rolled off production lines. The site currently produces both DRAM and HBM products. Micron now fabricates sixth-generation HBM4 chips on its flagship 1β (1-beta) DRAM process, supplying key customers including NVIDIA. For the planned mass production of seventh-generation HBM4E next year, the firm will shift to its next-generation 1γ (1-gamma) DRAM node.
Micron Japan representative director Kota Nosaka, disclosed that roughly 80% of the fab's raw wafer materials are sourced domestically in Japan. This mature, localized supply chain reliably sustains high manufacturing yields and consistent delivery timelines. HBM chips manufactured at the new expansion will primarily serve AI accelerator developers such as NVIDIA, while also catering to high-performance memory solutions for autonomous driving, with continuous R&D focused on boosting bandwidth and improving power efficiency.
Strong Japanese Government Backing Underscores Semiconductor Strategic Priority
The expansion has secured robust policy support from the Japanese government. Reports confirm the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will offer subsidies of up to 500 billion yen. The hefty subsidies serve a clear strategic goal: fortify Japan’s domestic AI infrastructure supply chain to maintain competitiveness amid the global next-gen computing arms race.
Since 2021, Japan has poured tens of billions of dollars into semiconductor and AI industrial support, aiming to reclaim competitive leadership across this national security-critical sector. Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae unveiled an industrial roadmap targeting a combined public-private investment pool of 101.6 trillion yen for chips and AI by March 2041, without disclosing the breakdown of government fiscal allocations.
Dual Domestic & Overseas Layout: Micron Builds Global AI Memory Capacity Network
The Hiroshima expansion stands as a cornerstone of Micron’s worldwide AI memory capacity ramp-up strategy. Beyond Japan, Micron is constructing two leading-edge wafer fabrication facilities in Boise, Idaho. This past January, the firm also hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its $100-billion-scale manufacturing complex outside Syracuse, New York, to deliver on its pledge to scale up U.S.-based DRAM manufacturing capacity.
This geographically diversified manufacturing footprint delivers cross-region capacity redundancy, effectively mitigating supply chain disruption risks stemming from regional single-point failures. Concurrent capacity expansions across multiple global sites will lift Micron’s overall memory output, sufficiently meeting surging demand spurred by booming large language model training and inference server deployments.
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