Micron to boost DRAM output with $1.8bn chip fab buy

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨tal@lemmy.today⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/20/micron_powerchip_fab_acquisition/

cross-posted from: beehaw.org/post/24313827

Seriously, what the fuck is going on with fabs right now?

Micron has found a way to add new DRAM manufacturing capacity in a hurry by acquiring a chipmaking campus from Taiwanese outfit Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC).

The two companies announced the deal last weekend. Micron’s version of events says it’s signed a letter of intent to acquire Powerchip’s entire P5 site in Tongluo, Taiwan, for total cash consideration of US$1.8 billion.

source

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tal@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
To copy my comment on the beehaw.org post, because they and lemmy.world aren’t federated:

This deal may make matters worse for more buyers, because PSMC used the Tongluo site to make legacy DRAM products – the kind of memory used in less advanced products. With the company now exiting the legacy chip biz, that memory will also become more scarce, giving the laws of supply and demand another moment in which to work their way on markets.

dqindia.com/…/microns-acquisition-of-psmcs-tonglu…

PSMC’s current DRAM capacity mainly relies on 25nm and 38nm nodes, which restricts DDR4 production to lower-density products.

I guess that that’s more DDR4 supply drying up. It’s going to be some very scarce years for memory until enough new production comes online.

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- Zos_Kia@lemmynsfw.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Honestly I inherited an old Poweredge server and everything in it is dirt cheap. Like I can find RAM <1€/GB
  
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- tal@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  One more thought — I don’t think that, even if someone is willing to do so as a stopgap until memory production ramps up adequately, that it’s possible to run Windows 11 on a DDR3-based system. DDR4 came out 12 years ago.
  
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  - GMac@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Not being able to run ai spyware 11 sounds like a big entry in the plus column to me 😅
    
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Squizzy@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Hope AI collapses and we get an oversupply

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AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
All those people saying that swap was useless must be feeling quite silly nowadays.

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someguy3@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
So does anyone know, is it hard to make RAM?

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- eleijeep@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  https://hanslabs.com/blog/2025-07-07-magnetic-core-memory-controller/
  
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- tal@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  I’m not really a hardware person, but purely in terms of logic gates, making a memory circuit isn’t going to be hard. I mean, a lot of chips contain internal memory. I’m sure that anyone that can fabricate a chip can fabricate someone’s memory design that contains some amount of memory.
  
  But I’m assuming that it’s not trivial to go out and make something competitive with what the PC memory manufacturers are making in price, density, and speed.
  
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- frongt@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  I mean you can’t do it in your garage, but if you have the facility with the machines and the staff and the knowledge then yeah it’s not hard.
  
  There is actually a guy making CMOS transistors in his garage because he has some of the machines, but he can’t make them micro-sized and can’t make whole die sheets. (Also that’s transistors for processors, not memory, but they parallel.)
  
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- gustofwind@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  The dirty stuff not so much but if you want it clean and pure yeah
  
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  - eleijeep@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Be careful where you buy it, some DIY lithographers will cut it with ROMs.
    
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- Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  rams into someguy3
  
  No.
  
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- aeronmelon@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  I tried once, it didn’t go well.
  
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Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Well, I hope they don’t bcs that just means more AI :/.

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