Micron, a global leader in memory and storage solutions, has been actively expanding its presence in Taiwan. Recently, the company announced a significant investment in acquiring new facilities in Taichung, Taiwan, from the display maker AUO.
Details of the Acquisition
The acquisition involves the purchase of three LCD plants from AUO, located in central Taiwan. Micron is set to pay NT$ 8.1 billion (approximately US$253.3 million) for these facilities. Initially, Micron had shown interest in a plant in Tainan owned by Innolux, but the deal did not materialize. Consequently, Micron turned to AUO, which agreed to the sale.
Strategic Importance
The three plants have historically been used for producing LCD color filters. While two of these plants have ceased operations, the third one remains operational and will continue to produce color filters under a lease agreement with AUO. The larger of the two plants measures 146,033 square meters, while the smaller one is 32,500 square meters.
Future Plans and Market Impact
Micron has disclosed that these new facilities will be utilized for front-end wafer testing to support its DRAM production fabs in Taichung and Taoyuan. Focus is expected to be on High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) to meet the growing demands of AI products, particularly from companies like NVIDIA. This strategic move is in line with Micron’s ongoing efforts to expand and upgrade its production capabilities in Taiwan.
The acquisition deal is expected to be finalized by the end of the year, marking another milestone in Micron’s expansion journey.
