New York, Jan 17, 2026, 07:26 EST — Market closed.
- Micron announced it has signed an exclusive letter of intent to acquire Powerchip’s P5 fab in Taiwan, paying $1.8 billion in cash.
- Micron shares jumped 7.8% on Friday, closing at a record high following a director’s disclosure of a $7.8 million stock buy.
- When U.S. markets open Tuesday after the holiday, traders will watch closely for the deal’s timing and any additional filings.
Micron Technology, Inc. announced Saturday it has signed an exclusive letter of intent to buy Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp’s P5 fab in Tongluo, Taiwan. The $1.8 billion all-cash deal is designed to boost its memory production capacity.
Investors have been pushing memory-chip stocks higher, betting that demand for DRAM—a key memory in servers, PCs, and phones—will remain strong as data centers ramp up capacity to handle AI workloads.
Micron’s rally will face a fresh test once trading picks back up. U.S. markets remain closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, reopening on Tuesday.
Micron shares ended Friday’s session at $362.75, gaining $26.12, or roughly 7.8%, on the Nasdaq. The stock reached an intraday peak of $365.59.
Micron pointed out that the Tongluo site houses a 300mm cleanroom spanning roughly 300,000 square feet, a setup that could speed up capacity expansion compared to starting fresh. Executive vice president Manish Bhatia noted the acquisition would enable Micron to “better serve our customers in a market where demand continues to outpace supply.”
The company said the letter of intent also seeks to build a long-term partnership with Powerchip for post-wafer assembly processing — the packaging stages that convert wafers into finished chips — and to back Powerchip’s legacy DRAM business. Micron expects the deal to close by the second quarter of 2026, pending definitive agreements and regulatory approval, with significant DRAM wafer production from the site starting in the latter half of 2027.
Micron director Teyin M. Liu revealed in a Form 4 filing on Thursday that they bought 23,200 shares between Jan. 13 and 14, with the weighted average price hovering around $336 to $337.
The stock was already tracking the broader chip sector. Investing.com noted that memory stocks gained after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co posted strong results and raised spending forecasts. Mizuho’s Jordan Klein highlighted solid demand for Micron shares following the insider buying announcement.
Micron got the ball rolling Friday on its massive $100 billion megafab campus in central New York. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra addressed the crowd, saying, “On the fields today there is snow and soil,” asking them to envision the project as it comes to life. https://www.wrvo.org/2026-01-16/micron-bre…
That said, the Taiwan deal isn’t sealed yet. A letter of intent can unravel over final terms, and the plan hinges on regulatory approval plus a multiyear buildup before it boosts output significantly. Micron remains vulnerable to typical memory market risks: a drop in demand or a quick shift to oversupply that could weigh on chip prices.
Investors will be keeping an eye on Micron once markets reopen Tuesday, looking to see if the company sticks to the letter of intent or files a definitive agreement detailing timing, conditions, and how the deal fits into its overall spending strategy.
