Micron To Build $7 Billion Plant in Japan To Expand DRAM Production (reuters.com) 29
U.S. memory chip maker Micron Technology will build a new factory at its Japanese production site in Hiroshima at a cost of 800 billion yen ($7.0 billion), the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported on Wednesday. Reuters: The new facility will make DRAM chips, which are widely used in data centres, with production set to begin in 2024, the report said, without citing sources. COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home demand for electronic devices is causing shortages of non-memory chips that has forced some manufacturers, such as automakers and smartphone makers, to curtail production. That has also reduced sales of DRAM memory chips, but some industry watchers expect demand to rebound helped by an expansion of data centres.
I wonder why Japan. (Score:3)
Re:I wonder why Japan. (Score:5, Insightful)
The US is a politically unstable third-world country with an uneducated, petulant, and heavily-armed populace and terrible healthcare that becomes the responsibility of the employer.
Where would rational money go between the US and Japan?
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No, they aren't.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/sep/14/instagram-posts/japan-has-not-approved-ivermectin-covid-19-treatme/
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welovetrump.com
Nothing screams "reputable news organization" like naming your site after a pathological liar.
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Stop punching down. You punch up. What you don't do is fuck with the less powerful group.
Punching down is a concept in which you're assumed to have a measurable level of power and you're looking for a fight. Now, you can either go after the big guy who might hurt you, or go after the little guy who has absolutely no shot. Either way, you've picked a fight, but one fight is remarkably more noble and worthwhile than the other. Going after the big guy, punching up, is an act of nobility. Going after the littl
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What in the name of Cthulhu and his neutronium underwear are you on about?
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That's the exact same situation as at the Met Gala that AOC attended in that "Tax the Rich" dress. Those with power punching down on those without.
The Masking of the Servant Class: Ugly COVID Images From the Met Gala Are Now Commonplace. [substack.com] From the start of the pandemic, political elites have been repeatedly caught exempting themselves from the restrictive rules they impose on the lives of those over whom they rule.
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I am also surprised.
Japan has excellent infrastructure, an educated populace, a stable government, and good technology. But it has high labor costs, significant environmental risk, and is experiencing an energy crisis because of that high technology and high population density. I suppose making DRAM may not require a lot of physical labor like assembling phones, so maybe the labor cost isn't a problem.
I would have thought that mainland Asia would have most of the benefits above, but lower labor costs, env
Re:I wonder why Japan. (Score:4, Insightful)
"high labor costs"
Labor hours per unit of product is very small, so labor costs are not a significant part of product cost. What you care about is labor skills, which is why it's worth paying them.
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Probably to be closer to their target market. Saves a lot in shipping costs. They've also sold their Utah plant to Texas Instruments: https://techxplore.com/news/20... [techxplore.com]
Re:I wonder why Japan. (Score:4, Interesting)
The average Japanese factory worker makes just under $13/hour, and aren't unionized. I suspect for labor cost alone, it would cost at least twice that to cover labor in the US.
Only $7B of $150B (Score:2)
Micron is planning $150B in manufacturing and R&D globally [micron.com]. Micron is expanding their Hiroshima site, and I would expect the bulk of the rest of the expansion budget will go toward expanding other existing locations, including in the US.
Because expanding Asian markets dwarf the US (Score:3)
Computers and phones are mostly made in Asia so locating a memory fab in the US is questionable. Manufacturing is global and expanding Asian markets dwarf the US. The US has no tech workforce to spare and tax breaks aren't sufficient bribe to overcome inherent disadvantages.
The social snark in other posts was inevitable because spergs gonna sperg, but business isn't about society, it's about MONEY. Locating in the US would be stupid without very large government assistance/bribes because the US is in the
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Is there a valid reason to not produce the chips in the US? Japan can't be less expensive as a manufacturing location than a US state willing to provide tax breaks to Micron.
The politics of the US make it undesirable as a manufacturing location.
Hiroshima a glowing future (Score:1)
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I used to work for Micron.... (Score:2)
and the Japanese chip companies were the villians in all of our company stories.
I guess Micron won