Jim:
I had to laugh when I read this in your recent SurvivalBlog article: "Well,
let's just hope that Boise, Idaho is not a nuclear target. That way, presumably
Micron Technology can re-seed the world with chips. (That is, if they will
still have a fab facility in Boise. Most chip makers are in the process of
outsourcing their fabs. Many of them are being offshored to China .)"
I’m a mid-level manager in the computer industry. In the past month we have interviewed two engineers currently employed by Micron Technology. They are looking for jobs because “the place is getting ready to send most of their production overseas." I asked how soon. “Two years at the latest, then they will no longer be profitable with 200mm wafers and will need to switch over to 300mm wafers. Which means a new production facility and the old one can’t be reused. Even the buildings are too short to work with the new wafer [production] design.” So a whole new plant needs to be built and they are already talking about how Micron needs to be "closer to the customer to compete." Most of their customers are in China and Asia. Best Regards,- B.
