Micron Tech invests $250m in Xi'an zone

Micron Technology Inc, a Fortune 500 company, has invested a further $250 million in Xi'an High-tech zone, its fourth such investment, to further develop its business in China.

A signing ceremony for the Micron-PII Xi'an New Assembly Project was held on Wednesday by Micron, its partner Powertech from Chinese Taiwan and the Xi'an High-tech Industrial Development Zone in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province.

The project's production will account for more than 97 percent of Micron's global production capacity after it is put into operation in early 2016, said Mark Adams, president of Micron.

With this latest project, Micron's investment in the zone has reached more than $1 billion.

The president said Micron originally chose Xi'an due to its business-friendly investment climate, the availability of a highly skilled workforce, good governance and a livable city that embraces culture and heritage.

"All these reasons combine to make Xi'an highly attractive in our investment strategy," Adams said.

Micron has a new partner, Powertech Technology, in this new venture. Powertech is the world's leading provider for integrated circuit back-end services, which cover IC chip probing, packaging, final testing and burn-in, with customers worldwide.

"The positive cooperation between Powertech and Micron started a few years ago and the new assembly project will be a continuation of our prosperous partnership," Adams said.

Lou Qinjian, the governor of Shaanxi province, said Micron's business has developed extremely rapidly in Xi'an in the nine years since it came to the city in 2005.

"By the end of 2013, Micron Semiconductor produced more than $8 billion in import and export value, accounting for over 40 percent of the total exports from Shaanxi province, which greatly promoted local economic development," the governor said.

Micron is one of the world's leading semiconductor companies focusing on manufacturing DRAM, NAND and NOR flash memory products. For more than 30 years, Micron has designed and built some of the world's most advanced memory and semiconductor products.