Seeking less exposure to concentrated global mineral refining, Micron Technology, Inc. said Oct. 20 it will finance expanded operations at Indium Corporation’s Rome, New York, facility.
The investment is intended to increase refining and high-purity materials manufacturing at the site. Micron expects the expansion to restart a critical-minerals processing capability there, though it has not identified that capability or given a date for processing to begin.
The funding is to be paired with a long-term supply agreement that the companies plan to enter, giving Micron access to high-purity minerals for memory production. Micron has not specified which minerals the agreement would cover, how much it will invest or how much the expanded operation could produce.
The Rome facility is already operating. Indium Corporation said it began operations there in August 2013 and has described solder fabrications among the products made at the site. The newly announced work would expand an existing operation.
“Advanced memory manufacturing depends on a reliable supply of critical minerals,” said Ben Tessone, Micron’s senior vice president and chief procurement officer. Micron expects the project to reduce its reliance on concentrated global refining capacity.
The Rome project falls under a U.S. semiconductor supply-chain program Micron announced in July, with investments planned at up to $3 billion. The company has not said what share of that amount is earmarked for Indium.
The program also included proposed $500 million financing for GlobalWafers Co., Ltd.’s 300-millimeter silicon wafer facility in Sherman, Texas, alongside a planned 10-year supply agreement. Micron said in July that the proposed transaction depended on final agreements, approvals and closing conditions.
Separately, Micron plans to spend more than $250 billion on U.S. chip factories and technology through 2035. It expects production at its planned memory complex in Clay, New York, to begin in 2030.
