Micron Expands Manufacturing Footprint as Memory Chip Shortage Deepens

Micron Technology is speeding up its manufacturing expansion at a rate that is aggressive by industry standards. Still, even its boldest plans are not enough to meet the growing global demand for memory chips.

The company has completed its $1.8 billion purchase of a chip factory in Taiwan that was previously run by Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing. This site adds about 300,000 square feet of cleanroom space to Micron’s operations. According to research firm Trendforce, this will boost Micron’s capacity by more than 10% starting in the second half of 2027.

Micron also plans to build a second facility at the same site in Taiwan, adding about 270,000 more square feet of cleanroom space. Construction is expected to start before the end of the current fiscal year in late August. Together, these projects will expand Micron’s total capacity by just under 20% compared to its current global operations.

The scale of the expansion, however substantial, remains insufficient. Micron has previously acknowledged it can satisfy only half to two-thirds of demand from several key customers in the near-to-medium term — and even if all new capacity came online immediately, that gap would not close. Production from the Taiwan acquisition is not expected to be available until the 2027–2028 window.

The supply constraint is reverberating across the consumer technology supply chain. Prices for dynamic random-access memory chips are projected to rise as much as 50% in the second quarter of calendar 2026 and potentially double in the second half of the year, according to analysts at Citigroup — a dynamic that carries significant implications for major consumer electronics manufacturers and the broader ecosystem of component suppliers and device makers that depend on stable memory pricing.

The situation looks much better for Micron and its main competitors in the memory industry. Over the past year, Micron’s stock price has more than quadrupled. Investors are expecting the upcoming earnings report to show that revenue for the February quarter has more than doubled compared to last year, and earnings have grown more than five times.

Micron also has big plans for manufacturing in the United States. The company is planning two chip factories in Idaho, each with about 600,000 square feet of cleanroom space, expected to open by the end of 2028. In addition, Micron has started building a $100 billion manufacturing complex in Onondaga County, New York. This site will have four facilities, each with about 600,000 square feet of cleanroom space, with the first production expected in 2030.