Micron makes massive $200 billion AI bet
The company is taking advantage of the growing demand for memory.
Some readers may get the wrong impression that I am a Luddite.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Luddites were members of organized bands of 19th-century English handicraftsmen who rioted against the use of textile machinery that was displacing them. The term is now used broadly to refer to people opposed to technological change.
I criticize artificial intelligence, but that doesn't mean I am against machine learning.
It can be used for good. Finding patterns in data that the human mind can't "digest" properly is very useful. It has already led to scientific breakthroughs.
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Many recently launched supercomputer systems have been slapped with AI tags for marketing purposes, even if those supercomputers (hopefully) won't be used for useless stuff like chatbots.
And to mention the Luddites again, we hear every day how AI will replace humans in the workplace, or that it is already taking jobs. 
Layoffs in the tech sector are on the rise
More than 150,000 tech workers were laid off in 2024. It doesn't matter if it is Amazon, Google, Tesla, or Microsoft, tech companies are looking for ways to use AI, rather than humans, to generate as much code as possible.
Relying heavily on AI to generate code, or "vibe coding," unfortunately, only works if a person can review the AI-generated slop.
AI will surely work if you are updating a website that has been made hundreds of times before. If you want to build something original, you'll have plenty of mistakes to fix.
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I don't know about you, but I don't like fixing AI's mistakes. Even before AI, gigantic "enterprise" codebases were the topic of horror stories among programmers. These vibe-coded ones will make those codebases look great, if not impeccable.
When these vibe projects get stuck, the developers hired back to fix all the AI-generated code should request higher pay to deal with it.
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Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) is poised to profit from AI regardless of the project goals and is also helping to create more jobs in the US tech sector.
Micron to invest approximately $200 billion in US semiconductor manufacturing, R&D
Micron and the Trump Administration announced on June 12th that Micron plans to expand its U.S. investments to approximately $150 billion in domestic memory manufacturing and $50 billion in research and development, creating an estimated 90,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The company plans to invest an additional $30 billion beyond prior plans, which include building a second memory fab in Boise, Idaho, and expanding and modernizing its existing manufacturing facility in Manassas, Virginia. The second Idaho fab will increase Micron’s production of DRAM in the U.S., serving growing market demand fueled by AI.
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Micron will bring advanced packaging capabilities to the U.S. to enable long-term growth in high-bandwidth memory (HBM).
HBM is indispensable to the AI market. As GPUs that power AI systems become increasingly powerful, they are bottlenecked by memory bandwidth.
HBM provides the bandwidth necessary to leverage these powerful processors in the most effective and efficient manner. The more the AI market grows, the more the demand for HBM grows.
This investment includes its previous plan for a mega fab in New York.
This expansion plan includes two high-volume fabs in Idaho, up to four high-volume fabs in New York, and the expansion and modernization of its existing manufacturing fab in Virginia. Idaho fab is expected to start DRAM output in 2027.
“President Trump has made it clear that the time to build in America is now. In partnership with the Department of Commerce, Micron is announcing a $200 billion semiconductor manufacturing and R&D investment to bring the full spectrum of memory chip production back to the United States. Micron’s planned investment will ensure the U.S. advances its lead across critical industries like AI, automotive, and aerospace & defense,” stated Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
If everything goes according to plan, the factories will add many new job positions, but it will take time, as building a new semiconductor factory takes years.
