Idaho and soon Utah won't be the only places in the world to claim a megabyte of Micron Technology Inc.
Micron subsidiaries are sprinkled around the globe. The international flavor, however, is somewhat bland. Offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore and the Virgin Islands staff people for sales and technical support. Micron also has incorporated in New Mexico, California, Washington and Oregon. It's building a custom manufacturing plant in North Carolina and two Micron subsidiaries will soon merge with a Minnesota laptop computer firm.The Gem State remains the computer memory chip maker's mecca. Its semiconductor and computer manufacturing facilities near Boise employ about 6,300 people. Micron intends to hire another 1,200 people at its expanding headquarters.
The $1.3 billion manufacturing plant the company intends to build and staff with 3,500 people in Lehi will be its single largest operation outside Idaho.
"Strategically it was important for Micron to locate a new fab out of Idaho," said Ronald Bohn, a semiconductor industry analyst at San Jose-based Dataquest Inc.
Kipp Bedard, Micron vice president for investor relations, said the company recognizes the need for geographic and industrial diversity. It's a way of providing stability to the most volatile of businesses.
Computer memory chip production remains at the center of the Micron juggernaut. The company's net income for the first two quarters of 1995 totaled $342.8 million, only $58 million less than it earned all off last year. Most of the earnings can be attributed to the sale of Micron's largest-volume product - the 4 megabit dynamic random access memory chip, or DRAM.
According to semiconductor analysts, Micron's 1995 growth prospects hinge on its ability to remain cost competitive and increase market share in the 4 meg DRAM, while ramping up its 16 meg chip.
Micron's income will also be affected by a proposed merger between two of its subsidiaries with Minneapolis-based Zeos International Ltd. Zeos, a maker of personal computer systems and work stations, lost $10.6 million in fiscal 1994. The union of Zeos and Micron Computer and Micron Custom Manufacturing Services would result in another publicly traded company, Micron Electronics. It will employ about 500 people. The merger is intended to help Micron's computer business grow further.
Micron is constructing a custom manufacturing plant in Durham, N.C. It's scheduled to open in April with 50 to 100 employees.
Rapid growth spawned Micron Construction Inc., a subsidiary that builds everything from schools to juvenile detention centers to semiconductor manufacturing plants. Bedard said the company was incorporated so Micron could retain the expertise workers developed in high-tech construction while allowing it to take on outside projects.
Some of Micron's subsidiaries are money-making ventures, and others were set up for research and development.
- Micron Communications uses semiconductor technology to develop telecommunications products.
- California-based Micron Quantum Devices is working on flash memory. Flash chips can save information even when a computer loses power.
- Micron Display Technology is developing thin screens that will someday replace cathode ray tube monitors found in computers and televisions.