Micron: Cultivating Excellence and Innovation for the Information Revolution – Taiwan Business TOPICS

With a strong commitment to rapid innovation, Micron Technology consistently delivers cutting-edge technologies that power various industries, from data centers to consumer electronics and automotive industries. As a renowned global leader in the development and manufacturing of memory and storage solutions, the company’s dedication to rapid innovation extends beyond its US headquarters. Taiwan in particular has played an indispensable role in contributing to Microns’ success.

When every second counts, having a highly skilled and highly dedicated team is crucial, says Donghui Lu, Corporate Vice President of Front-End Manufacturing and Head of Micron Taiwan. The Taiwan team is phenomenal. Their execution is top notch. Having such a team is one of our greatest advantages.

Lu recalls an instance shortly after his arrival in Taiwan, when an earthquake struck Microns’ Taichung plant. Upon hearing the news, Lu rushed to drive from Taipei to Taichung to supervise the recovery of the fab after the late evening earthquake. When he arrived in Taichung around midnight, he found that the Taichung team had already made great progress in restoring the factory to its normal capacity.

Having worked in the semiconductor industry since the 1990s, Lu emphasizes the importance of continuing to learn and recognizing the contributions of all team members.

Wealth and IQ are never a substitute for hard work. It’s important to stay focused on the details of your job and what you’re learning because there are many distractions around. You must also be grateful to the people around you who have allowed and continue to allow you to grow and succeed, there is no lone wolf in this industry.

Micron prides itself on bringing together experts from a diverse range of disciplines, including in the creation of its Centers of Excellence (CoE) that promote leadership, best practices, research, advocacy or education for an area of ​​interest. Micron has opened several CoEs, including NAND, Technology Innovation, High-Volume DRAM, and Long-Lifecycle Products, located in Singapore, Idaho, Taiwan, and Virginia, respectively.

It takes a village to develop a technology, Lu says. People from a multitude of disciplines working together in concert are needed in this knowledge-based industry. He notes that when operating in different markets, it’s important to be aware of the differences in the overall structure and ecosystem of how business is done. Micron’s corporate culture is still strongly American, but some aspects of Taiwanese culture and mentality are uniquely Taiwanese. For example, in Taiwan there is a trend towards top-down decision-making and the dissemination of ideas and opinions. We strive to help our team members at all levels find their voice and get their opinions heard.

In this spirit of diversifying personal career development paths, Micron has implemented a technical leadership program to help promote individual professional development into leadership positions responsible for specific technical areas. The goal of the program is to provide employees with the ability to advance within the organization and assume leadership roles outside the scope of conventional management positions.

We want to promote employees, make them visible, recognize their efforts, and enable them to continue learning and advancing in their field, says Lu. It is important to highlight the value and need for leaders with technical skills to emphasize that leaders in these positions are just as important as those in traditional managerial positions.

Microns products range from DRAM and NAND flash memory to solid state drives. The company’s continued focus on research and development has enabled it to maintain a competitive edge in the ever-changing semiconductor industry. Micron is currently developing new generations of its DDR5 memory that will deliver faster, more efficient computing power while enabling our devices to do more for us. Lu predicts that as we continue to develop increasingly complex AI systems, more advanced memory will be the key to the impending revolution in computing.

We all see how ridiculously powerful AI can be, and these are just the basic applications of AI we’re using right now, he says. When it starts to be applied to industry practices then you will see profound changes in human society and Micron will be there as a partner in the continued development and progress.