Nov 29 (Reuters) – Micron Technology will invest 1.5 trillion yen (​$9.6 billion) to build a new ‌plant in Hiroshima in western Japan to produce advanced high-bandwidth memory ‌(HBM) chips, the Nikkei reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The U.S. chipmaker aims to start construction at an existing site ⁠in May next year ‌and begin shipments around 2028, with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and ‍Industry providing up to 500 billion yen for the project, the Nikkei said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

To revive ​its aging semiconductor industry, Japan’s government is ‌offering generous subsidies to lure investment from foreign chip makers such as Micron and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). It is also funding the construction of a plant that will mass produce advanced logic chips ⁠using IBM technology.

Demand for HBM ​chips is being driven by the ​growth of artificial intelligence and data centre investment.

The expansion of its plant in Hiroshima will ‍help Micron diversify ⁠production away from Taiwan and compete with market leader SK Hynix, the Nikkei said.

($1 ⁠= 156.1500 yen)

(Reporting by Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru ‌and Tim Kelly in Tokyo; Editing by ‌William Mallard and Tom Hogue)