Micron Boise

Way back in the day, J. R. Simplot (the famous, self-made, Boise-native billionaire who got rich after becoming an agricultural supplier) decided to fund Micron and the rest is history. They became one of the major providers of computer chips for companies like Compaq and plenty of other PC makers. It also became incredibly profitable. As MacroTrends states, Micron currently has a net worth of over 37-billion dollars. As Simplot reportedly once stated, “Micron is my baby.”

Micron has been able to continually grow their business due to some significant risks that, luckily, paid off. When their market was starting to take a downturn, instead of playing it safe Micron decided to buy a few of their competitors for pennies on the dollar. According to this Wired article, “In 1998, for example, [they] bought Texas Instruments’ memory business for $800 million; in 2012, [they] bought Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory for $2.5 billion.” Their decision to stay active during the times when the markets were looking down has allowed them to grow to the size they are today.

Over the years, Micron has become such a powerhouse for technology that they’ve even had to deal with Chinese spies trying to steal their intellectual property.

But what is Micron working on now to help them stay so relevant?