Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) plans to expand its Longmont facility by roughly one-third and has signed a 10-year extension of its current lease, according to spokesman Daniel Francisco.
The company, which employs more than 250 people in Longmont, declined to say how many new jobs might be created as a result of its growth plans.
Micron’s Longmont facility develops storage controllers and solid state drive technology.
Micron was founded in Boise, ID in 1978 and has operations in more than 20 countries.
The expansion comes after Micron and Intel reported in July a breakthrough on the development of a new kind of memory chip that they say is a thousand times faster than the “flash” memory now used in smart phones, tablets and lap top computers.
The new memory, developed jointly by both companies, uses a three-dimensional chip design that lets computers store and retrieve individual bits of data more quickly than with flash.
“One of the most significant hurdles in modern computing is the time it takes the processor to reach data on long-term storage,” said Micron President Mark Adams in a statement. “This new class of non-volatile memory is a revolutionary technology that allows for quick access to enormous data sets and enables entirely new applications.”
Local economic development official Jessica Erickson said the expansion was welcome news.
“We are thrilled to learn of Micron’s expansion plans here in Longmont, and look forward to learning more about the new jobs and investment that will come to the community as a result,” said Erickson, president of the Longmont Area Economic Council. “We see their choice to expand here locally as yet another indicator that businesses are really starting to understand the value and benefit of doing business in Longmont.”
Micron has also announced a $300 million expansion at its Boise headquarters.
Vince Winkel: 303-684-5291, winkelv@times-call.com or twitter.com/vincewinkel
