Micron Technology Inc., the largest US maker of computer-memory chips, is poised to get more than $6 billion in grants from the Commerce Department to help pay for domestic factory projects, part of an effort to bring semiconductor production back to American soil.
Micron shares nearly 3% in premarket trading.
The award, which isn’t yet finalized, could be announced as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the matter. It’s not clear whether the company also plans to accept loans available through the 2022 Chips and Science Act in addition to the direct grant funding.
Micron, based in Boise, Idaho, is building factories in New York and its home state. After the preliminary agreement is announced, the firm would enter months of due diligence and then receive the money in tranches tied to project-specific benchmarks.
Representatives for Micron, the Commerce Department and the White House declined to comment.
The Chips Act set aside $39 billion for direct grants, as well as loans and loan guarantees worth $75 billion, to revitalize American chipmaking after decades of production shifting to Asia. Officials have unveiled six preliminary awards so far: three to firms that produce older-generation semiconductors, plus multibillion-dollar packages for Intel Corp., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has said the agency plans to spend about $28 billion of the grant funding on leading-edge projects.
Micron has pledged to build as many as four factories in New York state, plus one in Idaho. But those plans “require Micron to receive the combination of sufficient Chips grants, investment tax credits and local incentives to address the cost difference compared to overseas expansion,” Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Mehrotra said last month. The company is proceeding with projects in China, India and Japan as well.
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