Micron CEO highlights commitment to China at plant groundbreaking

The CEO of Micron Technology attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the US memory chipmaker's new factory in Xi'an, Shaanxi province on Wednesday, highlighting their commitment to the Chinese market despite challenges.

Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron, said in a speech that the US company has been continuously investing in the Chinese market for over 20 years, with a presence in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangdong province and Xi'an.

"Together, we will continue to share the future of the semiconductor industry here in China and across the globe. The best is yet to come," Mehrotra said.

The US company's total investment in Xi'an has so far exceeded 11 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), and a recent additional investment plan of 4.3 billion yuan emphasizes Micron's ongoing commitment to its local customers, according to the company.

Micron first announced the 4.3 billion yuan investment plan in June last year, which would be used to open a new production line at the site to manufacture chips to strengthen its Xi'an plant's packaging and testing capabilities.

The new production line is expected to be completed in 2025 and the company expects to have production output from this new space toward the second half of calendar year 2025, Micron said.

According to the local government, the annual output of the new production line is expected to hit 3.6 billion yuan.

Micron said it will set up new engineering labs in Xi'an to shorten its time serving customers. Meanwhile, the company will be working with the local suppliers to develop a better ecosystem around that factory and help the company execute in a faster move.

When asked about how Micron would position the Chinese market in its global business, Manish Bhatia, executive vice-president of global operations at Micron, said in an interview on Wednesday that "China is a critical part of our global business. We are focused on being able to support that business."

According to him, China has many different innovations in customer-oriented products and is a very important part of its overall market. The company wants to make sure that it has a strong share of business here because this is the world's second-largest economy.

"There's a huge appetite for newer technology solutions in China. And we want to be able to support that desire from Chinese consumers for leading edge products and support our customers who want to meet them," Bhatia added.