Global semiconductor company from America, Micron Technology has commenced the construction of its new ‘multibillion-dollar’ cleanroom space in Singapore. The new facility will be mainly used to continue the corporate’s 3D NAND technology transitions and expand research capabilities for its existing NAND manufacturing complex.

From the official statement from the company, Micron has signed an agreement with the Economic Development Board (EDB) to invest in new facilities space that will give Micron flexibility to meet future 3D NAND flash memory manufacturing requirements. The new plant will be equipped over the next five years or more and set to bring more than 1,000 new team members to its current workforce of 7,500 in Singapore. The existing Micron fabrication facility on North Coast Drive will be the site of this cleanroom expansion.

Regarding the plan, Micron president and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said, “Micron has enjoyed a long and successful relationship with the Singapore government, with a common goal to grow and create opportunities for the strong local talent and promote a favourable semiconductor industry environment. We look forward to our continued partnership.”

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Construction of the new cleanroom facility is expected to be completed in the middle of next year, with initial wafer output expected later in the fourth quarter of 2019. Micron expected that the cleanroom expansion will occur in phases to closely align with future 3D NAND technology node manufacturing and market requirements. The company said that it is focusing on technology transitions to meet its bit growth requirements and no new wafer capacity is planned at this time, Singapore Business Review reports.

EDB chairman Beh Swan Gin commented, “Micron’s latest investment builds upon its existing base of operations in Singapore, and leverages advanced manufacturing technologies to develop and produce best-in-class NAND Flash memory products. This is yet another important milestone in our longstanding partnership with Micron.”

According to Micron, the bigger cleanroom space is needed to cater future generation’s need for more processing steps, as well as to deliver cost-effective and high capacity memory products. Singapore is Micron’s primary manufacturing location for NAND technology nodes and is “critical to driving the company’s success” in the expanding storage business.

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