BOISE -- Micron Technology's $2.5 billion Lehi, Utah plant is coming out of mothballs.
More than two years after halting construction on the plant in Lehi, because of sagging computer-chip prices, Micron officials said they plan to begin building prototype computer chips in Utah by the end of next year.
During a Webcast discussion with Wall Street analysts, Micron Chairman Steve Appleton said the company intends to set the Lehi plant up to begin manufacturing Dynamic Random Access Memory chips on 12-inch wafers, rather than the eight-inch wafers the company now produces, according to Bloomberg News Service. The plant should be in production by the end of next year.
In the chip-manufacturing process, dozens of chips are made on a wafer, which resembles a large compact disc. The wafers are then cut up, and the chips packaged separately.
The move to a 12-inch wafer -- a move that has been anticipated for some time -- saves labor and material costs.
Micron officials said the Lehi plant could turn out 5,000 to 10,000 wafers a week, but would not decide on production levels for three or four months. Recent low demand for personal computers has decreased demand for the Dynamic Random Access Memory chips.
"We want to make sure the market needs the product," Appleton was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.
Appleton and other Micron officials were unavailable for comment. As part of the celebration of its 10-year anniversary being listed on the New York Stock Exchange, most high-ranking company officials were in New York City, where Appleton rang the bell at the stock exchange to open the day's trading.
Lehi Mayor Ken Greenwood said Micron officials have not spoken with him about opening the plant, but said the company has taken out building permits and sought approval for construction projects.
"They've been ramping up on a gradual basis for some time now," Greenwood said. "But (Micron) has kept a pretty low profile ever since they quit working on the plant the last time."
The company began building the Lehi plant in 1995, but halted construction in the spring of 1998 because of a slump in Dynamic Random Access Memory prices.
Micron also has broken ground on a new $278 million assembly and test facility in Singapore. The company already owns a manufacturing plant there, which employs approximately 3,000 people.
