Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Overview
Micron Technology, Inc., including its consolidated subsidiaries, is an industry leader in innovative memory and storage solutions transforming how the world uses information to enrich life for all . With a relentless focus on our customers, technology leadership, and manufacturing and operational excellence, Micron delivers a rich portfolio of high-performance DRAM, NAND, and NOR memory and storage products through our Micron® and Crucial® brands. Every day, the innovations that our people create fuel the data economy, enabling advances in artificial intelligence and 5G applications that unleash opportunities — from the data center to the intelligent edge and across the client and mobile user experience.
We manufacture our products at wholly-owned facilities and also utilize subcontractors to perform certain manufacturing processes. We make significant investments to develop proprietary product and process technology, which are implemented in our manufacturing facilities. Advancements in product and process technology generally increase the density per wafer and reduce manufacturing costs of each generation of product. We continue to introduce new generations of products that offer improved performance characteristics, including higher data transfer rates, advanced packaging solutions, lower power consumption, improved read/write reliability, and increased memory density.
The introduction of 176-layer NAND and 1α (1-alpha) DRAM represent major technology breakthroughs for our company and the first time in our history that we have achieved industry leadership across these two flagship technologies. In 2021, we introduced our industry leading 1α memory node, the world’s most advanced memory node in high-volume production. This advancement has been realized across our standard compute DRAM and LPDRAM product lines. We are shipping these products in volume, and we have partnered with customers to provide value-added innovation, speed market adoption of our new solutions, and prepare the ecosystem for broad adoption of our offerings across markets. We also launched 176-layer NAND based solutions into the market in 2021. Our managed NAND and SSD products incorporate NAND, a controller, firmware, and in some cases, DRAM. An increasing portion of our SSDs incorporate proprietary controllers and firmware that we have developed. Development of advanced technologies enables us to diversify our product portfolio toward a richer mix of differentiated, high-value solutions and to target high-growth markets and specific customer requirements across data center, intelligent edge, client, and mobile environments.
We face intense competition in the semiconductor memory and storage markets and to remain competitive we must continuously develop and implement new products and technologies and decrease manufacturing costs. Our success is largely dependent on obtaining returns on our research and development (“R&D”) investments, efficient utilization of our manufacturing infrastructure, development and integration of advanced product and process technologies, market acceptance of our diversified portfolio of semiconductor-based memory and storage solutions, and efficient capital spending.
Lehi, Utah Fab and 3D XPoint
In the second quarter of 2021, we updated our portfolio strategy to further strengthen our focus on memory and storage innovations for the data center market. In connection therewith, we determined that there was insufficient market validation to justify the ongoing investments required to commercialize 3D XPoint at scale. Accordingly, we ceased development of 3D XPoint technology and engaged in discussions with potential buyers for the sale of our facility located in Lehi that was dedicated to 3D XPoint production. As a result, we classified the property, plant, and equipment as held for sale and ceased depreciating the assets. On June 30, 2021, we announced that we entered into a definitive agreement to sell our Lehi facility to TI for cash consideration of $900 million. The sale is anticipated to close in the first quarter of 2022. Select tools and other equipment will be retained for redeployment to our other manufacturing sites or for resale to other buyers.
In the third quarter of 2021, we recognized a charge of $435 million included in restructure and asset impairments (and a tax benefit of $104 million included in income tax (provision) benefit) to write down the assets held for sale to
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the expected consideration, net of estimated selling costs, to be realized from the sale of these assets and liabilities. In the second quarter of 2021, we also recognized a charge of $49 million to cost of goods sold to write down 3D XPoint inventory due to our decision to cease further development of this technology. Our 3D XPoint technology development and Lehi facility operations are primarily included in our CNBU segment results.
Impact of COVID-19 on Our Business
Events surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic initially resulted in a reduction in economic activity across the globe, and the timing and extent of the ongoing economic recovery remains uncertain. As a result, we have experienced volatility in the markets that our products are sold into, driven by the move to a stay-at-home economy and fluctuations in consumer and business spending, which has affected demand for certain of our products. The ultimate extent to which COVID-19 will impact our business depends on future developments, which are highly uncertain and very difficult to predict, including the effectiveness and utilization of vaccines for COVID-19 and its variants, the severity of COVID-19 and its variants, and the effectiveness of the actions to contain or limit their spread.
From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we proactively implemented preventative protocols, which we continuously assess and update for changes in conditions and emerging trends. These preventative protocols are intended to safeguard our team members, contractors, suppliers, customers, distributors, and communities, and to ensure business continuity. Government restrictions or severe outbreaks can impact our operations at certain sites. While all our global manufacturing sites are currently operating with close to full staff and at normal capacity levels, our facilities could be required to temporarily curtail production levels or temporarily cease operations based on government mandates or our health and safety protocols. We may be required, or deem it to be in the best interest of our employees, customers, partners, suppliers, and stakeholders, to alter our business operations in order to maintain a healthy and safe environment. It is not clear what potential effects any such alterations or modifications may have on our business, including effects on our customers, employees, or on our financial results. We are following government policies and recommendations designed to slow the spread of COVID-19 and remain committed to the health and safety of our team members, contractors, suppliers, customers, distributors, and communities.
We continuously assess our efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, which have included the following:
• In locations experiencing continued community COVID-19 infections, we prohibit onsite visitors and are generally requiring team members to work from home where possible or practical. Where work from home is not possible, all on-site team members must complete health questionnaires, pass through thermal scanning equipment to ensure they do not have an elevated body temperature, and adhere to physical distancing requirements, mask protocols, and team member separation protocols. We have also enhanced our contact tracing, significantly decreased business travel, and where possible, made ventilation and other health and safety enhancements at our facilities, and provided COVID-19 testing and vaccinations for our team members.
• Following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recent approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, we mandated that all U.S. employees and, in addition, contractors that enter our U.S. buildings and certain other locations, be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, subject to disability and religious exemptions, by November 15, 2021.
• We continue to work closely with our customer base to best match our supply to changing market conditions.
• We evaluate our supply chain and communicate with our suppliers to identify supply gaps and have taken steps to provide continuity, to the extent possible, though we expect that constraints within our supply chain for certain IC components may somewhat limit our bit shipments in the near term. In some cases, we have added alternative suppliers and increased our on-hand inventory of raw materials needed in our operations.
• We have added assembly and test capacity to provide redundant manufacturing capability through our network of captive operations and external partners.
• We have evaluated all our construction projects across our global manufacturing operations and enacted protocols to enhance the safety of our team members, suppliers, and contractors.
• We have developed strategies and implemented measures to respond to a variety of potential economic scenarios, such as limitations on new hiring and business travel and reductions of discretionary spending.
• We are working with government authorities in the jurisdictions where we operate and continuing to monitor our operations in an effort to ensure we follow government requirements, relevant regulations, industry
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standards, and best practices to help safeguard our team members, while safely continuing operations at our sites across the globe.
We believe these actions are appropriate and prudent to safeguard our team members, contractors, suppliers, customers, and communities, while allowing us to safely continue operations. We cannot predict how the steps we, our team members, government entities, suppliers, or customers take in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will ultimately impact our business, outlook, or results of operations.
Sales, Markets, and Products
Product Technologies
Our product portfolio of memory and storage solutions, advanced solutions, and storage platforms is based on our high-performance semiconductor memory and storage technologies, including DRAM, NAND, NOR, and other technologies. We sell our products into various markets through our business units in numerous forms, including wafers, components, modules, SSDs, managed NAND, and MCP products. Our system-level solutions, including SSDs and managed NAND, combine NAND, a controller, firmware, and in some cases DRAM.
DRAM : DRAM products are dynamic random access memory semiconductor devices with low latency that provide high-speed data retrieval with a variety of performance characteristics. DRAM products lose content when power is turned off (“volatile”) and are most commonly used in client, cloud server, enterprise, networking, graphics, industrial, and automotive markets. LPDRAM products, which are engineered to meet standards for performance and power consumption, are sold into smartphone and other mobile-device markets (including client markets for Chromebooks and notebook PCs), as well as into the automotive, industrial, and consumer markets.
NAND : NAND products are non-volatile, re-writeable semiconductor storage devices that provide high-capacity, low-cost storage with a variety of performance characteristics. NAND is used in SSDs for the enterprise and cloud, client, and consumer markets and in removable storage markets. Managed NAND is used in smartphones and other mobile devices, and in consumer, automotive, and embedded markets. Low-density NAND is ideal for applications like automotive, surveillance, machine-to-machine, automation, printer, and home networking.
NOR : NOR products are non-volatile re-writable semiconductor memory devices that provide fast read speeds. NOR is most commonly used for reliable code storage (e.g., boot, application, operating system, and execute-in-place code in an embedded system) and for frequently changing small data storage and is ideal for automotive, industrial, and consumer applications.
3D XPoint : 3D XPoint is a class of non-volatile technology between DRAM and NAND in the memory and storage hierarchy. In 2021, we ceased development of 3D XPoint technology.
Products by Business Unit and Market
Compute and Networking Business Unit (“CNBU”)
CNBU includes memory products and solutions sold into client, cloud server, enterprise, graphics, and networking markets. CNBU reported revenue of $12.28 billion in 2021, $9.18 billion in 2020, and $9.97 billion in 2019. CNBU sales in 2021 consisted primarily of DRAM products produced on 1x, 1y, and 1z technology nodes. In 2021, we were the first to introduce products built using 1α DRAM process technology, which offers major improvements in bit density, power, and performance. Our 1α DRAM is ramping in various products across PC, server, and mobile and accounted for a meaningful portion of our revenue by the fourth quarter of 2021.
Client : CNBU sales to the client market in 2021 consisted primarily of DDR4 and LPDDR4 DRAM products. Our products sold to the client market support both commercial and consumer PC growth, with growth driven by the rapid deployment of PCs to support the work-from-home and e-learning environments as the world responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Cloud Server : CNBU sales to the cloud market in 2021 consisted primarily of our DDR4 DRAM products. The cloud server market continued to experience healthy demand in 2021 due to work-from-home and e-learning environments, video streaming, and significant increases in e-commerce activity around the world. The cloud server market has also been driven, in part, by intelligent edge devices capable of artificial intelligence and augmented reality that store and access data in the cloud. Cloud servers supporting artificial intelligence and data-centric workloads require significantly increasing quantities of DRAM and, as the number and capabilities of these intelligent edge devices increase, more data is stored, processed, and accessed in the cloud, creating a virtuous cycle between the cloud and edge devices.
Enterprise : CNBU sales to the enterprise market in 2021 consisted primarily of our DDR4 DRAM products. In 2021, we continued to make progress on our transition to DDR5, which doubles bandwidth and reduces power consumption, and we are on track to support customers as they begin to introduce DDR5-enabled platforms in the second half of calendar year 2021. The enterprise market is driven by hybrid cloud growth as part of the ongoing digital transformation.
Graphics : CNBU sales to the graphics market in 2021 consisted primarily of GDDR6 graphics products. In late 2020, we started shipping GDDR6 DRAM products for next-generation gaming consoles and also introduced our GDDR6X graphics memory, which delivers unprecedented speed and bandwidth for high-performance graphics and computing. The graphics market is driven by the need for high-performance, high-bandwidth, and cost-effective memory solutions. Our GDDR6 and GDDR6X DRAM graphics products are incorporated into game consoles, PC graphics cards, and graphics processing unit-based data center solutions, which are the driving force behind applications such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, 4K and 8K gaming, and professional design. Our GDDR6X products feature innovative signal transmission technology enabling the industry’s fastest GDDR for compute and graphics workloads.
Networking : CNBU sales to the networking market in 2021 consisted primarily of DDR4 and DDR3 DRAM products. In 2021, demand was driven, in part, by increased 5G build-out in certain geographic locations to further support the growth of the advanced 5G networking infrastructure.
3D XPoint : CNBU sales of 3D XPoint memory consisted primarily of wafers sold to Intel.
Mobile Business Unit (“MBU”)
MBU includes memory products sold into smartphone and other mobile-device markets and includes discrete NAND, DRAM, and managed NAND. MBU managed NAND includes embedded multi-media controller (“e.MMC”) and universal flash storage (“UFS”) solutions, each of which combine high-capacity NAND with a high-speed controller and firmware, and eMCP/uMCP products, which combine an e.MMC/UFS solution with LPDRAM. MBU reported revenue of $7.20 billion in 2021, $5.70 billion in 2020, and $6.40 billion in 2019. In the first quarter of 2021, we were the first to market with uMCP5, the industry’s first UFS 3.1 multichip package with LPDDR5, which combines high-performance, high-density, and low-power memory and storage in one compact package, equipping smartphones to handle data-intensive 5G workloads with dramatically increased speed and power efficiency. In the second quarter of 2021, we began shipping 1α node-based LPDDR4x DRAM, which provides power-efficiency improvements ideal for preserving battery life in mobile phones with memory intensive use cases like smart photography. In 2021, we also began volume shipments of our 176-layer NAND UFS 3.1 mobile solution, which features improved performance, faster downloads, and smoother application response times, enabling 5G mobile experiences.
Smartphone : MBU sales to the smartphone market in 2021 consisted primarily of LPDDR4, LPDDR5, and managed NAND solutions. In 2021, we achieved record MCP revenue as we benefited from the growth in 5G-enabled smartphones. High-end smartphones incorporate higher levels of NAND and LPDRAM that enable features such as larger 4K displays, multiple high-resolution cameras, and 4K high-dynamic range video recording. Additionally, our smartphone products are utilized by OEMs to enable artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and life-like virtual reality capabilities into high-end phones, including facial and voice recognition, real-time translation, fast image search, and scene detection.
Other : MBU sales in 2021 also included products sold into the feature and disposable phone markets, mobile PC, and tablet markets. Sales primarily consisted of LPDDR4, uMCPs, and eMCPs.
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Storage Business Unit (“SBU”)
SBU includes SSDs and component-level solutions sold into enterprise and cloud, client, and consumer storage markets and discrete NAND sold in component and wafer forms for usage in various markets. SBU reported revenue of $3.97 billion in 2021, $3.77 billion in 2020, and $3.83 billion in 2019. In 2021, we began volume shipments of the world’s first 176-layer 3D NAND flash memory. Based on our second-generation replacement-gate architecture, our 176-layer NAND is the industry’s most advanced node in high-volume production. In 2021, we drove an increased mix of our QLC NAND technology. The low cost per bit of our NAND QLC technology enables us to offer SSD products at a price point that drives accelerated replacement of hard disk drives in a number of market segments. QLC SSD adoption continues to grow and the majority of our client SSD bits shipped in the fourth quarter of 2021 included NAND with our QLC technology.
SSDs : SSD storage products incorporate NAND, a controller, and firmware and offer significant performance and features over hard disk drives, including smaller form factors, faster read and write speeds, higher reliability, and lower power consumption. We offer SSD solutions utilizing our NAND technology to the enterprise and cloud, client, and consumer markets.
Enterprise and Cloud SSDs : SBU sales to the enterprise and cloud SSD markets in 2021 consisted primarily of our 5210, 5300, 7300, and 9300 series SSDs. In 2021, we enhanced our portfolio of NVMe SSDs and in the first quarter of 2022, we announced the availability of our PCIe Gen4 enterprise SSDs with Micron-designed controllers. The enterprise and cloud storage markets are driven by the growth of applications that store, access, and analyze data in the cloud. Applications such as artificial intelligence servers require fast access to data with low latency, predictable performance, and high storage capacities.
Client SSDs : SBU sales to the client SSD market in 2021 consisted primarily of our 2300 and 2210 series client SSDs. Our client SSDs, targeted for leading personal computer OEMs, have mostly replaced hard disk drives used in notebooks, desktops, workstations, and other consumer applications, and deliver high performance, power efficiency, security, and capacity. In 2021, we announced volume production of our first PCIe Gen4 SSDs, the Micron 2450 and 3400, built with our 176-layer NAND and available in a variety of form factors.
Consumer SSDs : SBU sales to the consumer SSD market in 2021 consisted primarily of our Crucial-branded MX500 and BX500 SATA SSDs and our P1, P2, P5, and P5 Plus PCIe SSDs, which utilize our NAND QLC and TLC technologies. We had record consumer SSD revenue in 2021, assisted by the growth of our QLC SSDs, and we continued to transition our product line of consumer SSDs from SATA to NVMe. In 2021, we began shipping 176-layer NAND based consumer SSDs and announced the availability of our Crucial P5 Plus PCIe SSDs as an expansion of our NVMe SSD portfolio to offer high-performance internal Gen4 storage options to consumers. We also expanded our consumer portable SSD portfolio by introducing the high-capacity 4TB and value-priced 500GB Crucial X6 external SSDs to offer consumers more options for external storage performance, capacity and value at any price point. Our consumer SSD solutions are replacing installed hard disk drives as end users and system builders/integrators seek the higher performance, power savings, and reliability of SSDs.
Components and Wafers : SBU sales of components in 2021 consisted primarily of our 96-layer and 176-layer TLC and QLC NAND products.
Embedded Business Unit (“EBU”)
EBU includes memory and storage products sold into industrial, automotive, and consumer markets and includes discrete and module DRAM, discrete NAND, managed NAND, SSDs, and NOR. EBU reported revenue of $4.21 billion in 2021, $2.76 billion in 2020, and $3.14 billion in 2019. The embedded market has traditionally been characterized by long life-cycle DRAM and non-volatile products manufactured on mature process technologies. With strong trends of digitization, connectivity, and intelligence in every device, demand continues to grow for leading-edge products from newer process technologies emerging in the embedded market. Our embedded products enable edge devices to store, connect, and transform information in the internet of things (“IoT”) market and are utilized in a diverse set of applications in the automotive, industrial, and consumer markets.
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Industrial : EBU sales to the industrial market in 2021 consisted primarily of DDR4 and DDR3 DRAM, LPDDR4 DRAM, SLC NAND, NAND MCPs, and NOR. Our products enable applications in the growing industrial IoT market, including machine-to-machine communication, factory automation, transportation, surveillance, retail, and smart infrastructure.
Automotive : EBU sales to the automotive market in 2021 consisted primarily of LPDDR4 DRAM, e.MMC managed NAND, DDR3 DRAM, and LPDDR2 DRAM. In 2021, we began sampling the industry’s first automotive-grade LPDDR5 that is hardware-evaluated to meet the most stringent Automotive Safety Integrity Level, ASIL D. We also began sampling the industry’s first UFS 3.1 solution for automotive applications. Advancements in autonomous driving, advanced driver-assistance systems, and in-vehicle infotainment systems continue to increase the requirements for high-performing memory and storage products, with higher reliability requirements for leading-edge products. Automotive memory and storage products enable connected, advanced infotainment systems with increasingly larger and higher definition displays and support improved voice and gesture control. In addition, our products enable increasingly advanced vision and sensor based automated systems to support driver assistance solutions and vehicle safety. Our comprehensive and expanding portfolio of DRAM, NAND, and NOR solutions to the automotive market, as well as our extensive customer support network, enable us to maintain our strong leadership position in this market.
Consumer : EBU sales to the consumer market in 2021 consisted primarily of our LPDDR4 DRAM, DDR3 DRAM, and SLC NAND. These embedded memory and storage solutions are used in a diverse set of consumer products, including service provider and IP set-top boxes, digital home assistants, digital still and video cameras, home networking, ultra-high definition televisions, and many more applications. Our embedded memory and storage solutions enable edge devices in the consumer products market to store, connect, and transform information in the IoT.
Marketing and Customers
We seek to build collaborative relationships with our customers to understand their unique opportunities and challenges. By engaging with our customers early in the product life-cycle to identify and design features and performance characteristics into our products, we are able to manufacture products that anticipate and address our customers’ changing needs. Collaborating with our customers on their design needs in changing end markets and meeting their timelines for qualifying new products, allows us to differentiate our memory and storage solutions, which provides greater value to our customers.
Our semiconductor memory and storage products are offered under our Micron and Crucial brand names and through private labels. We market our semiconductor memory and storage products primarily through our own direct sales force and maintain sales or representative offices to support our worldwide customer base. Our products are also offered through independent sales representatives, distributors, and retailers. Our independent sales representatives obtain orders, subject to final acceptance by us, and we then make shipments against these orders directly to customers or through our distributors. Our distributors carry our products in inventory and typically sell a variety of other semiconductor products, including competitors’ products. We sell our Crucial-branded products through a web-based customer direct sales channel as well as through channel and distribution partners. We maintain inventory at locations in close proximity to certain key customers to facilitate rapid delivery of products.
Due to volatile industry conditions, our customers are generally reluctant to enter into long-term, fixed-price purchase contracts. We typically accept orders with acknowledgment that pricing, quantity, and other terms may be adjusted to reflect market conditions at the time of shipment.
In each of the last three years, approximately one-half of our total revenue was from our top ten customers. For other information regarding our concentrations and customers, see “Part II – Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data – Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements – Certain Concentrations.”
Competitive Conditions
We face intense competition in the semiconductor memory and storage markets from a number of companies, including Intel; Kioxia Holdings Corporation (formerly Toshiba Memory Corporation); Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; SK hynix Inc.; and Western Digital Corporation. Some of our competitors are large corporations or conglomerates that may have greater resources to invest in technology, capitalize on growth opportunities, and withstand
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downturns in the semiconductor markets in which we compete. Consolidation of industry competitors could put us at a competitive disadvantage. We and our competitors generally seek to improve yields, reduce die size in product designs, or increase production capacity, which may result in significant increases in worldwide supply and downward pressure on prices. Increases in worldwide supply of semiconductor memory and storage also result from fabrication capacity expansions, either by way of new facilities, increased capacity utilization, or reallocation of other semiconductor production to semiconductor memory and storage production. Our competitors may increase capital expenditures resulting in future increases in worldwide supply. We, and some of our competitors, have plans to ramp, or are constructing or ramping, production at new fabrication facilities. If competitors are more successful at developing or implementing new product or process technology, their products could have cost or performance advantages. Certain of our memory and storage products are manufactured to industry standard specifications and, as such, have similar performance characteristics to those of our competitors. For these products, the principal competitive factors are generally price and performance characteristics including operating speed, power consumption, reliability, compatibility, size, and form factor. Some of our competitors may use aggressive pricing to obtain market share or take business of our key customers.
Some governments may provide, or have provided, and may continue to provide, significant assistance, financial or otherwise, to some of our competitors or to new entrants and may intervene in support of national industries and/or competitors. In particular, we face the threat of increasing competition as a result of significant investment in the semiconductor industry by the Chinese government and various state-owned or affiliated entities that is intended to advance China’s stated national policy objectives. In addition, the Chinese government may restrict us from participating in the China market or may prevent us from competing effectively with Chinese companies. Some of our competitors may benefit from policies and regulations that favor domestic companies or may not be subject to certain regulations or restrictions to which we are subject, which may allow them access to certain sales opportunities from which we may be restricted. In addition, our customers may redirect their business to our competitors based on government policy, national preference, or other factors.
Manufacturing
We manufacture our products within our own facilities located in Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, the United States, Malaysia, and China, and also utilize subcontractors to perform certain manufacturing processes. Our products are manufactured on 300mm wafers in facilities that generally operate 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Semiconductor manufacturing is extremely capital intensive, requiring large investments in sophisticated facilities and equipment. Our DRAM, NAND, and NOR products share a number of common manufacturing processes, enabling us to leverage our product and process technology and certain resources and manufacturing infrastructure across these product lines.
Our process for manufacturing semiconductor products is complex and involves numerous precise steps, including wafer fabrication, assembly, and test. Efficient production of semiconductor products requires utilization of advanced semiconductor manufacturing techniques and effectively deploying those techniques across multiple facilities. The primary determinants of manufacturing cost are process line-width, 3D non-volatile layers, NAND cell levels, process complexity (including the number of mask layers and fabrication steps), and manufacturing yield. Other factors include the cost and sophistication of manufacturing equipment, equipment utilization, cost of raw materials, labor productivity, package type, cleanliness of our manufacturing environment, and utilization of subcontractors to perform certain manufacturing processes. As we continue to increase our production of high value products and solutions, manufacturing costs are increasingly affected by the costs of application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) controllers and other semiconductors, advanced and complex packaging configurations, and testing at progressively higher performance speeds and quality levels. We continuously enhance our production processes, increase bits per wafer, transition to higher density products, and utilize advanced testing and assembly processes.
Wafer fabrication occurs in a highly-controlled clean environment to minimize yield loss from contaminants. Despite stringent manufacturing controls, individual circuits may be nonfunctional or wafers may be scrapped due to equipment errors, minute impurities in materials, defects in photomasks, circuit design marginalities or defects, or contamination from airborne particles, among other factors. Success of our manufacturing operations depends largely on minimizing defects and improving process margin to maximize yield of high-quality circuits. In this regard, we employ rigorous quality controls throughout the manufacturing, screening, and testing processes. We continue
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to heighten quality control as our product offerings expand into higher-end segments that require increasing performance targets.
Our products are manufactured and sold in both packaged form and as unpackaged bare die. Our packaged products include packaged die, memory modules, and system-level solutions, such as SSDs, managed NAND, and MCPs. We assemble many products in-house and, in some cases, outsource assembly services for certain packaged die, memory modules, SSDs, and MCPs. We test our products at various stages in the manufacturing process, conduct numerous quality control inspections throughout the entire production flow, and perform high temperature burn-in on finished products. In addition, we use our proprietary AMBYX™ line of intelligent test and burn-in systems to perform simultaneous circuit tests of semiconductor die, capturing quality and reliability data and reducing testing time and cost.
In recent years, we have produced an increasingly broad portfolio of products and system solutions, which enhances our ability to allocate resources to our most profitable products but also increases the complexity of our manufacturing and supply chain operations. Although our product lines generally use similar manufacturing processes, our costs can be affected by frequent conversions to new products; the allocation of manufacturing capacity to more complex, smaller-volume products; and the reallocation of manufacturing capacity across various product lines.
Resources
Supply Chain, Materials, and Third-Party Service Providers
Our supply chain and operations are dependent on the availability of materials that meet exacting standards and the use of third parties to provide us with components and services. We generally have multiple sources of supply for our materials and services. However, only a limited number of suppliers are capable of delivering certain materials and services that meet our standards and, in some cases, materials, components, or services are provided by a single or sole source. Various factors could impact the availability of materials or components such as chemicals, silicon wafers, gases, photoresist, controllers, substrates, lead frames, printed circuit boards, targets, and reticle glass blanks. Shortages or increases in lead times have occurred in the past, are currently occurring with respect to some materials and components, and may occur from time to time in the future.
Our manufacturing processes are also dependent on our relationships with third-party manufacturers of controllers, analog integrated circuits, and other components used in some of our products and with outsourced semiconductor foundries, assembly and test providers, contract manufacturers, logistic carriers, and other service providers. Although we have certain long-term contracts with some of our suppliers, many of these contracts do not provide for long-term capacity commitments. To the extent we do not have firm commitments from our third-party suppliers over a specific time period or for any specific capacity and/or quantity, our suppliers may allocate capacity to their other customers and capacity and/or materials may not be available when we need it or at reasonable prices. Inflationary pressures and shortages may increase costs for materials, supplies, and services. Regardless of contract structure, large swings in demand may exceed our contracted supply and/or our suppliers’ capacity to meet those demand changes in the required timeframe resulting in a shortage of parts, materials, or capacity needed to manufacture our products.
Trade disputes or other political conditions, economic conditions, or public health issues, such as COVID-19, may limit our ability to obtain materials necessary to produce Micron products. Certain materials are primarily available in a limited number of countries, including rare earth elements, minerals, and metals available primarily from China. Although these rare earth and other materials are generally available from multiple suppliers, China is the predominant producer of certain of these materials. If China were to restrict or stop exporting these materials, our suppliers’ ability to obtain such supply may be constrained and we may be unable to obtain sufficient quantities, or obtain supply in a timely manner, or at a commercially reasonable cost. Constrained supply of rare earth elements, minerals, and metals may restrict our ability to manufacture certain of our products and make it difficult or impossible to compete with other semiconductor memory manufacturers who are able to obtain sufficient quantities of these materials from China.
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Patents and Licenses
As of September 2, 2021, we owned approximately 15,400 active U.S. patents and 7,300 active foreign patents. In addition, we have thousands of U.S. and foreign patent applications pending. Our patents have various terms expiring through 2041.
From time to time, we sell and/or license our technology to other parties and continue to pursue opportunities to monetize our investments in our intellectual property through partnering and other arrangements. We have also jointly developed memory and storage product and process technology with third parties on a limited basis.
We have a number of patent and intellectual property license agreements and have, from time to time, licensed or sold our intellectual property to third parties. Some of these license agreements require us to make one-time or periodic payments while others have resulted in us receiving payments. We may need to obtain additional licenses or renew existing license agreements in the future, and we may enter into additional sales or licenses of intellectual property and partnering arrangements. We are unable to predict whether these license agreements can be obtained or renewed on terms acceptable to us.
Research and Development
Our R&D efforts are focused primarily on development of industry leading memory and storage solutions that enable continuous improvement in performance and cost structure for our products. We are focused on developing new fundamentally different memory structures, materials, and packages designed to facilitate our transition to next generation products. Additional R&D efforts focus on the enablement of advanced computing, storage, and mobile memory architectures and the investigation of new opportunities that leverage our core semiconductor expertise. Product design and development efforts include high-density DDR4, DDR5, LPDDR4, LPDDR5, High Bandwidth Memory, Compute Express Link (CXL) based products, and advanced graphics DRAM; 3D NAND (including TLC and QLC technologies); mobile and storage solutions (including firmware and controllers); managed NAND; SSDs; and other memory technologies and systems.
To compete in the semiconductor memory and storage markets, we must continue to develop technologically advanced products and processes. The continued evolution of our semiconductor product offerings is necessary to meet expected customer requirements for memory and storage products and solutions. Our process, design, firmware, controller, package, and system development efforts occur at multiple locations across the world. Our primary R&D centers are located in Boise, Idaho; Singapore; Japan; Taiwan; Italy; China; India; Germany; and other sites in the United States.
R&D expenses vary primarily with the number of development and pre-qualification wafers processed and end-product solutions developed, personnel costs, and the cost of advanced equipment dedicated to new product and process development, such as investments in EUV lithography equipment. Because of the lead times necessary to manufacture our products, we typically begin to process wafers before completion of performance and reliability testing. Development of a product is deemed complete when it is qualified through internal reviews and tests for performance, functionality, and reliability. R&D expenses can vary significantly depending on the timing of product qualification.
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Human Capital
We depend on a highly educated and experienced workforce to design, develop, and manufacture high-quality, cutting-edge memory and storage solutions. As of September 2, 2021, we had approximately 43,000 employees located in the following regions:
Region Percent Percent Women
Asia 74 % 34 %
United States 24 % 19 %
Europe 2 % 21 %
Total 100 % 30 %
As of September 2, 2021, 30% of our global workforce were women, compared to 29% as of September 3, 2020. 23% of our technical or engineering roles were held by women, as compared to 21% on September 3, 2020. Women comprised 15% of our senior leaders as of September 2, 2021, as compared to 13% as of September 3, 2020.
In 2021, we added one female director to our Board of Directors, resulting in a Board of Directors that is comprised of four men and four women as of September 2, 2021, compared to five men and three women as of September 3, 2020. In addition, as of September 2, 2021, based on self-identification, one member of our Board of Directors is Asian, one member is African-American, and six members are White. One member of our Board of Directors is a veteran of the U.S. military.
Talent Acquisition, Engagement, and Retention
Finding and retaining the best and brightest people in an extremely competitive industry environment is a strategic imperative for our business. We have partnerships with colleges and universities worldwide and through this collaboration, we offer curricula and mentorship programs that reinforce awareness of and engagement with Micron among students and graduates. In addition, we use artificial intelligence to reduce or eliminate the potential for bias from resumes, allowing us to focus on individual merit over personal characteristics.
Periodically, we invite all team members to participate in our internal engagement survey, which covers questions that measure and provide insight into leadership and inclusive behaviors. In April 2021, 88% of our team members participated in the survey. Management uses feedback from the survey to identify and implement continuous improvements to our culture and workplace practices.
Compensation and Benefits
Our compensation programs are designed to support our team members’ financial and personal well-being by providing a valuable return for their contributions to the company. Our total compensation strategy includes base salary, annual bonuses, equity awards, a discounted stock purchase plan, and a comprehensive benefits package.
Diversity, Equality & Inclusion
We have made powerful commitments in 2021 to hold ourselves even more accountable for progress towards diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI), by setting six global DEI commitments:
• Increase representation of underrepresented groups
• Drive equitable pay and inclusive benefits
• Strengthen our culture of inclusion
• Advocate for racial and LGBTQ+ equality
• Engage with minority-owned financial institutions for cash management
• Increase representation and spend with diverse suppliers
We have a regular review of pay globally, including base pay and stock awards, to drive compensation equitability. In 2021, we achieved comprehensive global pay equity for all employees in total compensation across base,
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bonuses, and stock rewards. In addition, a portion of our company-wide annual bonus program is based on the achievement of DEI-related goals.
Health, Safety, and Wellness
Proactive efforts to prevent occupational illnesses and injuries allow us to maintain a safe, healthy, and secure workplace. Each of our sites have health and safety committees, which are designed to promote overall operations and communications regarding safety and to help lead and implement secure and compliant work areas. Our safety program creates a unified corporate safety culture by establishing a formal training structure and common safety practices across our global facilities.
In addition to our proactive efforts on safety, we have increased our focus on providing enhanced services to our team members including free mental health and counseling support, providing critical-incident stress management services and emotional support sessions, launching a work-from-home toolkit, and encouraging team members to earn incentives by participating in well-being challenges and measuring their personal progress.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we went well beyond local, state, and federal requirements. With COVID-19 vaccines now available, we have launched a task force to monitor vaccine availability for team members, provided on-site vaccinations where available, provided monetary incentives, and, for U.S. team members, required vaccinations to improve vaccination rates. See “Item 1. Business – Overview – Impact of COVID-19 on Our Business.”
We are a member of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), a group of leading companies focused on promoting responsible working conditions, ethical business practices, and environmental stewardship throughout our global supply chain. We strive to adhere to both our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (available on our website) and the RBA code of conduct, which is a demonstration of our commitment to integrity and responsible practices.
Government Regulations
Our worldwide business activities are subject to various federal, state, local, and foreign laws and our products are governed by a number of rules and regulations. Compliance with these laws, rules, and regulations are presently not material to our results of operations, capital expenditures, or competitive position. Nevertheless, compliance with existing or future government laws, including, but not limited to, our operations, products, global trade, business acquisitions, employee health and safety, and taxes could have a material adverse effect on our future results of operations, capital expenditures, or competitive position. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors” for a discussion of these potential impacts.
Environmental Compliance
We approach environmental stewardship and sustainability proactively to ensure we meet all government regulations regarding use of raw materials, discharges, climate change and energy use, emissions, and wastes from our manufacturing processes and address the evolving expectations of our investors, customers, team members, and other stakeholders. Compliance with the law and other compliance obligations is considered a minimum environmental expectation at Micron. Our wafer fabrication facilities continued to conform to the requirements of the International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”) 14001 environmental management systems standard to ensure we are continuously improving our performance. As part of the ISO 14001 framework, we have established a global environmental policy and meet requirements in terms of environmental aspects evaluation and control, compliance obligations, commitment, training, communication, control of documented information, operational control, emergency preparedness and response, and management review. While we have not experienced any material adverse effects to our operations from environmental regulations, changes in regulations could necessitate additional capital expenditures, modification of our operations, or other compliance actions.
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Trade Regulations
Sales of our memory and storage products, and the transfer of related technical information and know-how, including support, are subject to laws and regulations governing international trade, including, but not limited to, export control, customs, and sanctions regulations administered by U.S. government agencies such as the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Office of Foreign Asset Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Other jurisdictions, such as the European Union or China, also maintain, or may implement, similar laws and regulations with which we must comply. Any such laws or regulations may require that we either obtain licenses or other authorizations to export certain of our products or sell them to certain countries, companies, or individuals, or, in the absence of such licenses or authorizations, not export or sell the applicable products or transfer the related technical information and know-how to the affected countries, companies, or individuals. In addition, increased tariffs imposed by the countries in which our products are sold can increase the cost of our product to our customers. The laws and regulations that govern international trade change frequently, sometimes without advance notice. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors – Risks Related to Laws and Regulations – Trade regulations have restricted our ability to sell our products to several customers, could restrict our ability to sell our products to other customers or in certain markets, or could otherwise restrict our ability to conduct operations” and “ – Risks Related to Our Business, Operations, and Industry – We face geopolitical and other risks associated with our international sales and operations that could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, or financial condition.”
We and/or our suppliers and service providers could be affected by tariffs, embargoes, or other trade restrictions, as well as laws and regulations enacted in response to concerns regarding climate change, conflict minerals, responsible sourcing practices, public health crises, contagious disease outbreaks, or other matters, which could limit the supply of our materials and/or increase the cost. Environmental regulations could limit our ability to procure or use certain chemicals or materials in our operations or products. In addition, disruptions in transportation lines could delay our receipt of materials. Lead times for the supply of materials have been extended in the past. Our ability to procure components to repair equipment essential for our manufacturing processes could also be negatively impacted by various restrictions or disruptions in supply chains, among other items. The disruption of our supply of materials, components, or services, or the extension of our lead times could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition. Similarly, if our customers experience disruptions to their supplies, materials, components, or services, or the extension of their lead times, they may reduce, cancel, or alter the timing of their purchases with us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition.
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Information About Our Executive Officers
Our executive officers are appointed annually by our Board of Directors and our directors are elected annually by our shareholders. All officers serve until their successors are duly chosen or elected and qualified, except in the case of earlier death, resignation, or removal.
The following presents information, as of September 2, 2021, about our executive officers:
Scott R. Allen
Corporate Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer
Mr. Allen, 53, joined us in September 2020 as Corporate Vice President of Accounting. Mr. Allen was named Corporate Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer in October 2020. From August 2016 to September 2020, Mr. Allen held several executive roles at NetApp,Inc. including Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer. Mr. Allen holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Siena College.
April S. Arnzen
Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer
Ms. Arnzen, 50, joined us in December 1996 and has served in various leadership positions since that time. Ms. Arnzen was named Senior Vice President, Human Resources in June 2017 and named Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer in October 2020. Ms. Arnzen holds a BS in Human Resource Management and Marketing from the University of Idaho and is a graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program.
Manish Bhatia
Executive Vice President, Global Operations
Mr. Bhatia, 49, joined us in October 2017 as our Executive Vice President, Global Operations. From May 2016 to October 2017, Mr. Bhatia served as the Executive Vice President of Silicon Operations at Western Digital Corporation. From March 2010 to May 2016, Mr. Bhatia held several executive roles at SanDisk Corporation including Executive Vice President of Worldwide Operations until it was acquired by Western Digital in May 2016. Mr. Bhatia holds a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA, each from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Michael W. Bokan
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales
Mr. Bokan, 60, joined us in 1996 and has served in various leadership positions since that time. Mr. Bokan was named Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales in October 2018. Mr. Bokan holds a BS in Business Administration from Colorado State University.
Scott J. DeBoer
Executive Vice President, Technology & Products
Dr. DeBoer, 55, joined us in February 1995 and has served in various leadership positions since that time. Dr. DeBoer was named Executive Vice President, Technology Development in June 2017 and named Executive Vice President, Technology & Products in September 2019. Dr. DeBoer holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Physics from Iowa State University. He completed his undergraduate degree at Hastings College.
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Sanjay Mehrotra
President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director
Mr. Mehrotra, 63, joined us in May 2017 as our President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director. Mr. Mehrotra co-founded and led SanDisk Corporation as a start-up in 1988 until its eventual sale in May 2016, serving as its President and Chief Executive Officer from January 2011 to May 2016, and as a member of its Board of Directors from July 2010 to May 2016. Mr. Mehrotra served as a member of the Board of Directors for Cavium, Inc. from July 2009 until July 2018 and for Western Digital Corp. from May 2016 to February 2017 and currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of CDW Corporation. Mr. Mehrotra holds a BS and an MS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley and is a graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program.
Joel L. Poppen
Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary
Mr. Poppen, 57, joined us in October 1995 and has held various leadership positions since that time. Mr. Poppen was named Vice President, Legal Affairs, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary in December 2013 and named Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary in June 2017. Mr. Poppen holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois and a JD from the Duke University School of Law.
Sumit Sadana
Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer
Mr. Sadana, 52, joined us in June 2017 as our Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer. From April 2010 to May 2016, Mr. Sadana served in various roles at SanDisk Corporation, including Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer, and General Manager, Enterprise Solutions until it was acquired by Western Digital in May 2016. Mr. Sadana currently serves on the Board of Directors of Silicon Laboratories, Inc. Mr. Sadana holds a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India and an MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
David A. Zinsner
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Zinsner, 52, joined us in February 2018 as our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. From April 2017 to February 2018, Mr. Zinsner served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Affirmed Networks. From January 2009 to April 2017, Mr. Zinsner served as the Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Analog Devices. From July 2005 to January 2009, Mr. Zinsner served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Intersil Corporation. Mr. Zinsner holds an MBA, Finance and Accounting from Vanderbilt University and a BS in Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
There are no family relationships between any of our directors or executive officers.
Available Information
Our executive offices are located at 8000 South Federal Way, Boise, Idaho 83716-9632 and our telephone number is (208) 368-4000. Information about us is available at our website, www.micron.com. Also available on our website are our Corporate Governance Guidelines, Governance and Sustainability Committee Charter, Compensation Committee Charter, Audit Committee Charter, Finance Committee Charter, Security Committee Charter, and Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. Any amendments or waivers of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics will also be posted on our website within four business days of the amendment or waiver. Copies of these documents are available to shareholders upon request. Information contained or referenced on our website is not incorporated by reference and does not form a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Investors and others should note that we announce material financial information about our business and products through a variety of means, including our investor relations website (investors.micron.com), filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), press releases, public conference calls, and webcasts. We use
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these channels to achieve broad, non-exclusionary distribution of information to the public and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Therefore, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in our company to review the information we post on such channels.
Our filings are available free of charge on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC, including our annual and quarterly reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, our proxy statements, and any amendments to those reports or statements. The SEC’s website, www.sec.gov, contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The content on any website referred to in this Form 10-K is not incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K unless expressly noted.