Micron Technology
Micron Technology ("Micron") is a multinational company based in Boise, Idaho best known for producing many forms of semiconductor memories. This includes DRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, and image sensing chips.
Micron was founded in Boise, Idaho, in 1978 by four engineers - Ward Parkinson, Joe Parkinson, Dennis Wilson and Doug Pitman. Startup funding was provided by Idaho billionaire J.R. Simplot, whose fortune was made in the potato business. By 1981 a fab was completed and Micron was producing 64K DRAM chips. By focusing on being a low-cost producer, Micron survived numerous collapses in the DRAM market which caused many competitors to leave the industry. One of the most vicious was in 1985, when allegations of Japanese import dumping fueled a price collapse that caused DRAM inventor Intel to leave the market. Micron survived and eventually acquired the memory businesses of rivals Texas Instruments in 1998 and Toshiba in 2001. These acquisitions gave Micron an international presence with production facilities in Italy, Singapore, and Japan. Today Micron is the only DRAM manufacturer in the United States and its primary competitors include Infineon, Samsung, Hynix, and Elpida. In 1994, founder Joe Parkinson retired as CEO and was replaced with current CEO Steve Appleton.
In the early 1990s the company also began manufacturing desktop PCs under the name Micron and later MicronPC. In 2001, the PC manufacturing business was sold to Gores Technology Group and is now known as MPC. Micron also formerly ran an Internet services business called HostPro which was sold to Interland in 2001.
Micron trades on the NYSE under ticker symbol MU.History
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