Micron's Move to Expand HBM Memory Capacity in Taiwan

TapTechNews August 26th news, Taiwan media Economic Daily reported that Micron is actively looking for a site in Taiwan region to expand HBM memory and advanced packaging capacity. After failing to purchase Innolux's Nanke Fourth Factory in competition with TSMC, Micron has set its sights on the idle factory building of another display enterprise, AUO.

Specifically, Micron intends to buy two color filter factories, C5D and C6C, located in Tainan Science and Technology Industrial Park of AUO. These two factories have already stopped production and closed down in August 2023, and the external sale will not affect the operation of AUO.

The reason why Micron and TSMC are both interested in the idle factory buildings of display enterprises is that on the one hand, the clean rooms of panel factories and color filter factories are similar to the specifications of the semiconductor industry clean rooms and are easy to retrofit and reuse; on the other hand, the panel factories are relatively large in scale, which is convenient for equipment introduction.

The Taiwan media mentioned that the AUO C5D and C6C factories are located in the industrial area, so the transaction value includes both the plant configuration and the land price. If sold, the transaction price will fall between 10 billion to 20 billion New Taiwan dollars (TapTechNews note: currently about 2.238 billion to 4.476 billion Chinese yuan).

In response to relevant market rumors, AUO responded on the 25th that under the consideration of the dual-axis transformation of the operating strategy, the group has adjusted the production scale of the Tainan plant area, and will activate and use the existing plant area at an appropriate time in the future, but will not comment on a single event or manufacturer.

Micron spokesperson said: No comment on external rumors and speculations.

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The goal is to catch up with the overall DRAM in market share in related fields. It is reported that Micron is expanding HBM memory capacity globally.