Micron Pauses Work on $3 Billion to $4.5 Billion Taoyuan Plant

Micron has largely paused work on a planned memory-chip factory in Taoyuan, Taiwan, people familiar with the matter said, leaving limited site-safety work before construction freezes amid a labor dispute.

The project carries a $3 billion to $4.5 billion budget and was scheduled to begin production in 2028. It was designed to make high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), chips used in AI systems.

The Taoyuan union wants 15% of operating profit distributed among Micron employees worldwide and seeks cash rewards instead of awards partly paid in stock. Micron reached an agreement with a larger union in Taichung in October, but some employees objected to its terms. The Taoyuan union is seeking to expand its membership to press for renewed negotiations. A 24-hour gate strike by 11 Taoyuan union officials ran Nov. 4-5, though it did not involve the full membership.

Taiwan accounts for about 60% of Micron’s global DRAM output and is a major HBM production base. Micron has about 15,000 employees in Taiwan.

Micron said its existing Taiwan operations remain normal and that it would ensure continuity for customers, but it did not directly address the Taoyuan project. Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said the government was helping Micron carry out its investment plans and resolve differences with the union; the ministry did not comment on the reported pause.