Micron Raises U.S. Investment Target to $250 Billion by 2035
Miles Bennett
Micron lifted its planned U.S. investment to over $250 billion through 2035 and poured the first concrete at its New York fab; soaring memory prices plus CHIPS Act subsidies are turning the commitment from political gesture into a profitable capacity race.
What does $250 billion actually build?
The Clay, New York site is planned for up to four wafer fabs — the largest private investment in the state's history — and is expected to create 50,000 jobs, with Micron directly hiring 9,000.
First concrete was poured more than a quarter ahead of schedule; Micron has already paid New York contractors and suppliers roughly $675 million.
Beyond New York, an Idaho fab is set to produce its first wafers by mid-2027, and a Virginia plant is already making small volumes of 1-alpha DDR4 for automotive, industrial, and defense customers.
Where is the money coming from — and why now?
Memory prices have surged: Korean DRAM export prices jumped 497% over the past year, while flash and HBM — high-bandwidth memory designed for AI chips — doubled or tripled.
Micron's quarterly revenue grew to $23.9 billion year-on-year, driven mainly by HBM demand; management raised fiscal-2026 capex by $5 billion to over $25 billion.
This means → Micron is stacking three advantages — a cyclical boom, $6.1 billion in CHIPS Act subsidies, and tariff protection — into a cost structure its Korean rivals cannot fully replicate.
How far ahead are the Korean competitors?
In the highest-value HBM segment, SK Hynix — supplying Nvidia's AI accelerators — overtook Samsung in annual operating profit for the first time in 2025.
Samsung and SK Hynix together control roughly two-thirds of the global DRAM market; along with Micron, they are the world's only three HBM manufacturers.
In plain terms = Micron has enough scale in mainstream memory, but in the most profitable HBM lane it is still the chaser among three.
How could the China variable reshape the race?
Apple has begun testing DRAM from state-backed CXMT (长鑫存储) for devices sold in China; SemiAnalysis projects CXMT's global DRAM share will rise from roughly 11% in 2024 to 15% by 2028.
CXMT is also planning a Shanghai IPO, targeting at least 29.5 billion yuan to fund capacity expansion.
This reflects a deeper risk: analysts warn CXMT's expansion could replay the solar-panel and EV playbook — scale up first, then drive global prices down.
What are the two key variables to watch?
Whether Micron's domestic buildout can narrow the HBM gap with SK Hynix and Samsung, who still dominate that segment.
Washington's policy direction on CXMT: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick used the groundbreaking ceremony to publicly call on Samsung and SK Hynix to further expand U.S. memory capacity.
In plain terms = Spending big on fabs is step one; the real outcome depends on whether Micron's HBM technology can catch up and whether Washington hits the brakes on Chinese capacity.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.