SINGAPORE: U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology plans to deepen its manufacturing footprint in Singapore with a US$24-billion investment, as the global semiconductor industry scrambles to expand capacity amid a prolonged shortage of memory chips driven by demand for artificial intelligence.

Micron said it will build a $24-billion chip manufacturing plant in Singapore, a move first reported by Reuters, as it races to boost output amid an acute global supply crunch.

The announcement comes as companies across industries, from consumer electronics makers to AI service providers, struggle with tight supplies of memory chips amid a surge in investment in AI infrastructure.

Micron said the investment, spread over the next decade, will fund the construction of an advanced wafer fabrication facility to help meet growing demand for NAND memory chips, fuelled by AI and data-centric applications.

Wafer output from the new facility is expected to begin in the second half of 2028, with production taking place in a cleanroom space covering more than 700,000 square feet (65,000 square metres), the company said in a statement.

Micron already manufactures 98 percent of its flash memory chips in Singapore, where it is also building a $7-billion advanced packaging plant for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a key component used in artificial intelligence chips. The HBM chip packaging facility in Singapore is on track to contribute to supply in 2027, Micron added on January 27.

Analysts have warned that the global memory supply shortfall could extend into late 2027, even as Micron and its main rivals — South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix — plan new production lines and move forward start dates.

TrendForce analyst Bryan Ao said that as demand continues to outpace supply, contract prices for enterprise solid-state drives are expected to rise by 55 percent to 60 percent.

"The market's demand for high-performance storage equipment has been growing much faster than expected amidst the expansion of AI inference applications, and major North American cloud service providers have been exhibiting robust order pulls since the end of last year to seize on opportunities in the AI agent market," Ao said.

TrendForce data shows that Micron ranked fourth among flash memory chip suppliers in the third quarter of 2025, with a 13 percent market share.

Last week, Micron said it was in talks to buy a fabrication site from Powerchip in Taiwan for $1.8 billion, a move that would boost its DRAM wafer output.

Earlier this month, SK Hynix said it plans to bring forward the opening of a new factory by three months and begin operating another new plant in February.