TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. said that Micron completed the NT$57.7 billion (US$1.8 billion) purchase of its plant in Miaoli’s Tongluo Township, and the two companies will collaborate on memory process technology, CNA reported.
PSMC said the plant is a 12-inch wafer fab with a cleanroom area of about 27,871 square meters. The facility can help Micron increase memory production, including high bandwidth memory, to meet growing AI demand.
High bandwidth memory is based on 3D stacking technology, offering low latency and serving as a key component for high-performance computing platforms and AI data centers. Major global manufacturers include SK hynix, Samsung Electronics, and Micron.
Micron Global Operations Executive Vice President Manish Bhatia said PSMC’s Miaoli plant is about 24 km from Micron’s Taichung facilities. He noted that Micron is carrying out upgrades and cleanroom modifications at the Miaoli plant, with shipments expected to begin in 2028.
The company also plans to start construction of an additional wafer fab at the Miaoli site by the end of this year, which is expected to add about 25,084 square meters of cleanroom space.
PSMC Chair Frank Huang (黃崇仁) said the company will collaborate with Micron to manufacture high-bandwidth memory chips at its Hsinchu plant. He added that the partnership is expected to allow PSMC to join Micron’s memory supply chain and help its AI-related segment account for 20% of total revenue.
PSMC said it is developing wafer-on-wafer technology, which stacks multiple wafers to shorten connections and speed up data transfer. The company is also working on interposers, which help link chips to their substrates. Both technologies are key to packaging advanced AI chips, the company added.
Rising demand for high-bandwidth memory is limiting production capacity for standard memory, causing an overall memory shortage, Micron said. The company forecast that high-performance memory prices will continue to increase, while standard memory prices could rise by up to 50%.
