AI/ML
Micron has unwrapped plans for a $10 billion “long-horizon” innovation hub at its Boise HQ, attracting backing – or at least vocal support – from the US government.
The firm said Micron Labs would be backed by a “$10 billion investment over the next decade” and would bring together “customers, academia, government and the broader semiconductor ecosystem to pursue breakthroughs beyond today's technology roadmaps and help define what's possible in the decades ahead.”
The company sketched out a number of key research areas including “critical memory technologies, advanced memory and compute architectures, packaging and future semiconductor manufacturing”.
There was no explicit mention of flash or storage research. Analyst firm TrendFocus noted this week that the main flash vendors – including Micron – were focusing their efforts on high bandwidth memory, rather than expanding SSD production, even as prices skyrocket and supplies dry up.
Sanjay Mehrotra, Chairman, President and CEO of Micron Technology, said the plan “builds on the more than $250 billion we have separately committed to manufacturing and R&D across the United States, because as the only US-based manufacturer of memory, we have long believed in the future that AI is now making real.”
Tech companies like Micron have been under intense pressure from Washington to boost investment in North American facilities, to secure jobs and supply chains, maintain the US’ technological edge, and keep key technology out of the hands of adversaries.
So it’s no surprise that the first prepacked quote supporting the effort came from secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick, who cited the Trump administration’s efforts to boost “domestic semiconductor capabilities.”
He added the commitment “will strengthen American innovation, create hundreds of jobs and ensure memory never limits innovation."
Gary Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials, added, “As memory and computing architectures become increasingly complex, advances in new materials, equipment, process technology and chip packaging will play an essential role in turning breakthrough ideas into reality.”
But Micron is not the only company looking to boost its R&D into future materials to support AI.
Western Digital this week revealed that it has established a “joint research institution with Tohoku university in Japan.
The WD × Tohoku University AI Data Infrastructure Lab will be embedded in the University’s Research Institute of Electrical Communication.
The lab will focus on data storage, and the researchers will work on “advanced recording materials, device physics, and storage systems engineering to develop next-generation data storage technologies.”
“By combining Tohoku University's world-class research capabilities with WD's decades of leadership in storage innovation, we're accelerating the technologies and developing the talent that will help define the future of AI infrastructure," said Hisashi Takano, Japan Country Officer, WD.
We asked WD if those advanced materials and device physics will be ultimately be deployed to ensure storage – or at least a chunk of it – continues to mean rapidly rotating disks or whether new formats or platforms are on the agenda. We’ve yet to hear back either way.