Photo: Ludovico Ceros / Unsplash
There’s a good chance your car has a Manassas chip in it.
Micron Technology — the only company making memory chips in the United States — says roughly half of all cars on American roads today carry a chip manufactured at its facility on Godwin Drive. Now the company has started making something even more advanced there: the most cutting-edge memory chip ever produced on U.S. soil.
On May 22, Micron announced it has begun production of what’s called 1-alpha DRAM at its Manassas plant. DRAM — dynamic random-access memory — is the type of chip that lets your phone, laptop, car or medical device hold and move information quickly while it’s running. The 1-alpha version packs more data into a smaller space than anything previously made in America, and Micron says it’s also the world’s most advanced version of the DDR4 memory standard used across automotive, defense, industrial and medical industries. Of all the memory chips produced anywhere on Earth, just 2 percent are made in the United States. Every single one of them comes out of Manassas.
What this means for jobs and the community
Micron is investing more than $2 billion to expand and modernize its Manassas plant. The money is coming from a combination of sources: a $275 million federal award through the CHIPS and Science Act — finalized in 2025 — up to $70 million from the Commonwealth of Virginia tied to job creation milestones, and additional support from the City of Manassas.
The expansion is expected to add more than 400 new direct manufacturing jobs at the Manassas plant. Beyond that, Micron estimates another 2,700 jobs will be created in the surrounding community — think suppliers, contractors, restaurants and services that support a growing workforce. The plant already employs more than 1,300 full-time workers and 1,000 contractors and combined with past investment now supports more than 3,100 jobs tied directly to the facility.
“These are high-wage careers that will anchor this community for generations,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron’s Chairman, President and CEO, at a celebration event at the Manassas plant on May 22.
Veterans are a significant part of the workforce at Godwin Drive. About one in 10 employees has served in the military. Micron actively recruits veterans through the Department of War’s SkillBridge program, which helps transitioning service members move into civilian careers, as well as through Virginia Values Veterans and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce HIRE VETS NOW initiative.
Micron has also invested more than $9 million over the past five years in building up the regional workforce pipeline. That includes a registered apprenticeship program with Northern Virginia Community College that puts participants on a direct path to full-time careers as semiconductor technicians.
Why memory chips matter right now
Memory chips aren’t glamorous, but they’re everywhere — and increasingly, the world can’t get enough of them. Artificial intelligence systems need to process massive amounts of data at high speed, and memory is what makes that possible. The defense industry, automakers, hospital equipment manufacturers and industrial machinery companies all depend on a steady, reliable supply.
Until recently, virtually all of that supply came from overseas. The CHIPS and Science Act — passed by Congress in 2022 with bipartisan support and signed by President Biden — was designed to change that by offering federal funding to bring chip manufacturing back to the United States.
“Here in Manassas, we are launching intelligence into the physical world,” Mehrotra said. “Memory sits at the core of the world’s most demanding systems — from national defense to autonomous vehicles to humanoid robotics to aerospace.”
Mehrotra added: “We are at the dawn of the AI economy. Memory is at the heart of AI.”
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, representing the Trump administration at the event, called it a turning point: “We are finally building memory semiconductors in America. Micron’s massive national $200 billion investment will quadruple American production of industrial, automotive, defense and aerospace memory chips.”
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who helped author the CHIPS Act, told reporters at the event that without it, “there would never have been another chip built in the U.S.” Now, he said, “Made in Virginia will be stamped on all these new chips.”
Virginia Speaker of the House Don Scott, in a statement, said: “By producing this memory technology here in the Commonwealth, Micron is growing its strategic investment in Virginia and in America’s national security.”
Manassas Delegate Michelle Maldonado, in a statement, said: “The most advanced memory technology made anywhere in America is now being made in Manassas — by our neighbors, our veterans, our apprentices, and our students. That is something this community has earned.”
Gov. Abigail Spanberger, in a written statement, said the expansion is “a major step forward for Virginia’s advanced manufacturing sector and for strengthening America’s semiconductor supply chain.”
Part of a much bigger national push
The Manassas expansion is one piece of Micron’s roughly $200 billion national investment plan. The company is also building a new memory manufacturing complex in Clay, New York, and two new manufacturing facilities in Idaho, with the first expected to begin production in mid-2027. Micron has secured up to $6.4 billion in total CHIPS Act funding across all four projects and says the combined U.S. investments will eventually support an estimated 90,000 American jobs.
For Manassas, the immediate milestone is already here. Full production of the new 1-alpha chips is expected to be up and running before the end of this year.
Sources: Micron Technology Virginia expansion page (micron.com/us-expansion/va); Micron Technology press release (May 22, 2026); Prince William Times; InsideNoVa; Choose Manassas.
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