Micron Technology considers Lockhart for multibillion-dollar chip factory

Micron Technology is the latest high-tech giant to consider the Austin area for a multibillion-dollar manufacturing operation. The Idaho-based company is looking at a site near Lockhart in Caldwell County to build the facility, according to its applications for tax breaks filed with the state comptroller's office. The applications describe the project as an eight-phase semiconductor manufacturing facility. Micron's investment would total at least $20 billion through 2030 but possibly much more over the following decade, the documents indicate.

The precise amount is unclear from Micron's applications for tax breaks from the Lockhart school district under the state's Chapter 313 incentive program. The company has filed eight separate applications with the Lockhart Independent School District for various phases of the project, stretching out until 2043. The school district has not given final approval to the applications. If the property tax breaks are approved for the initial phase and Micron goes through with its plans, the taxpayer-funded incentives would total about $565 million over 10 years, according to an American-Statesman analysis, assuming no change in the district's tax rate over that time. Micron makes computer memory and data storage chips, and is one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies. Its products are primarily used in automobiles, computers, servers, consumer electronics, smartphones and communications products. A number of other high-profile global tech giants also are considering big investments in the Austin area and have applied for tax breaks under Chapter 313, including Samsung, NXP and Applied Materials. Samsung, which already is building a $17 billion chip factory in Taylor, has said it is evaluating the region for 11 more plants that could become operational on a staggered basis from 2034 to 2042.