Micron Technology is gearing up to expand production of 10nm-class DRAM chips at its Taiwan-based fabs between 2018 and 2019.

At its factory site in Taichung, central Taiwan (formerly Rexchip Electronics), commercial production of chips built using 1Xnm process technology already kicked off, according to Micron VP of global manufacturing Wayne Allan. The site will move forward transitioning to a newer 1Znm node in the second half of 2019, said Allan.

Micron will also enter 1Xnm chip production at its factory site in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan (formerly Inotera Memories) in the second half of 2018, Allan indicated. The site will be ready for transition to 1Ynm process technology at the end of the year, Allan said.

Allan continued that Micron expects to hire an additional 800 employees stationed in Taiwan by the end of 2018 and 350 more in 2019. Micron's workforce in Taiwan will reach 7,300 employees at the end of 2018, up from about 6,500 a year earlier, Allan said.

Micron employs about 1,100 people for its 3D DRAM backend site in Taiwan, Allan added. The company is still in the process of building up production capacity at the site which will target high-end server applications, Allan said.

In addition, Allan expressed optimism about the DRAM market outlook for 2018. The overall DRAM bit demand this year will increase 20%, which is about Micron's bit supply growth, Allan indicated.

As for NAND flash, the overall bit demand growth this year is forecast to be 45% which will be lower than Micron's output growth, Allan said. Nevertheless, the market supply and demand should remain in balance throughout 2018, according to Allan.