<article><p class="lead">Semiconductor manufacturers Micron and Samsung are lining up large-scale investments to gradually increase production capacity in line with long-term demand trends despite a short-term slowdown.</p><p>US-based semiconductor manufacturer Micron Technology said today that it plans to invest $100bn over the next 20 years to build a new fabrication facility (fab) in Clay, New York. Under the first phase of the plan, the company will invest $20bn by the end of 2030. Micron is the only US-based manufacturer of memory chips and the fab will be the largest in the country. </p><p>Micron plans to start site preparation work in 2023, begin construction in 2024 and start production at the site in the latter half of the decade.</p><p>Micron last month broke ground on a new leading-edge memory manufacturing fab in Boise, Idaho, the first new memory fab to be built in the US in 20 years. The company plans to invest $15bn in the Idaho plant by 2030. Construction is scheduled to start in early 2023 and the facility is expected to come on line in phases starting in 2025. The company has set a target to start new dynamic random access memory (DRAM) production in 2025. </p><p>The New York and Idaho facilities are part of Micron's strategy to increase DRAM production in the US to 40pc of the company's global output in the next decade. At both sites, output will ramp up in line with industry demand growth.</p><p>"Although the near-term demand environment for memory and storage is challenged, memory market revenue is expected to double by 2030," Micron said. "New wafer production capacity will therefore be required to meet long-term demand in market segments like data centre, industrial, automotive and mobile, fuelled by adoption of artificial intelligence and 5G." </p><p>Micron said that its move to increase US domestic supply of leading-edge memory is in response to the CHIPS and Science Act and the need for "a more resilient, secure and geographically diverse supply chain". The state of New York is providing $5.5bn in incentives over the life of the project in Clay, alongside federal grants and tax credits Micron expects to receive from the CHIPS Act. The town of Clay and Onondaga County are providing infrastructure support.</p><p>South Korean semiconductor manufacturer Samsung also announced plans today to expand its chip production capacity by the end of the decade.</p><p>The company produces three nanometre (nm) process silicon chips and plans to launch mass production of 2nm process technology in 2025, followed by 1.4nm in 2027. Samsung plans to expand its production capacity for advanced nodes by more than three times by 2027 from this year.</p><p>Consumer electronics applications are showing signs of slowing while automotive and data centre demand for semiconductors is expected to continue rising over the long term. Reflecting that dynamic, Samsung said that it expects non-mobile applications including high-performance computing (HPC) and automotive to exceed 50pc of its foundry portfolio by 2027.</p><p>Samsung will target high-performance and low-power semiconductor markets including HPC, automotive, 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT). The company will enhance its 3nm offering for HPC and mobile applications, and its 4nm chips for HPC and automotive.</p><p>Samsung supplies 28nm embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) products for automotive customers and plans to launch 14nm eNVM in 2024 and add 8nm eNVM in the future. </p><p>Samsung started construction earlier this year on a new fab in Taylor, Texas, where it expects to start production in the second half of 2024. The company said today it intends to add a new "Shell-First" manufacturing line at the facility.</p><p>Under the Shell-First strategy for its global capacity expansion, Samsung will first build cleanrooms regardless of market conditions and then install equipment as needed in response to future demand. Samsung has foundry manufacturing lines in Giheung, Hwaseong and Pyeongtaek in South Korea, in addition to Taylor and Austin in the US.</p><p>With semiconductor manufacturers ramping up their output, components producers are also expanding their capacity in response to demand.</p><p>Last week, Switzerland-based Swissbit said it has launched a new €1.5mn ($1.49mn) semiconductor packaging line in Berlin, Germany. Swissbit produces memory products at the site and is one of the only manufacturers in Europe producing solderable components from small batches to high volumes for automation, automotive and network technology.</p><p>Switzerland-based Comet Group said last month that it will double its manufacturing capacity in Penang, Malaysia, for producing high-frequency chip components, citing increasing demand and opportunities in Asia, where several of its original equipment manufacturer customers have operations. The "long-term growth drivers for semiconductor and electronics demand are intact despite the current uncertainties", the company said.</p><p class="bylines">By Nicole Willing</p></article>
