Idaho grows a third of America’s potatoes — but its biggest export is memory chips
- Micron Technology was born in a Boise basement in 1978
- $250 billion pledged for US chip fabs by 2035
- 32% of all US potatoes grown here — more than the next two states combined
- The Gem State, 43rd to join the Union (1890)
How Idaho’s digital economy grew
Idaho becomes the 43rd state
Admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890.
The chip company hiding behind the potato state
Micron isn’t a footnote — it’s one of the world’s largest memory-chip makers, still headquartered in Boise, and posted record fiscal-2025 revenue of $37.4 billion with roughly 53,000 employees worldwide. The founding story is genuinely modest: four out-of-work engineers, a dentist’s basement, and $300,000 scraped together from local Idaho businessmen who knew nothing about semiconductors but trusted the founders. Today Micron is building two new leading-edge fabs in Boise, backed by a $6.165 billion federal CHIPS Act award and a $250 billion nationwide investment pledge through 2035.
The potato king who bankrolled the chip company
J.R. Simplot dropped out of school in eighth grade, built a fortune dehydrating potatoes for the WWII military, then invented the commercially viable frozen french fry and became McDonald’s dominant fry supplier. In 1980, at age 70, he invested in Micron — then a two-year-old startup — becoming one of its most important early backers. He died in 2008, still one of the oldest billionaires on the Forbes 400, having quietly bridged Idaho’s two defining industries himself.
Micron Technology
Founded 1978 in Boise. $37.4 billion FY2025 revenue, ~53,000 employees worldwide.
J.R. Simplot Company
Founded on potato dehydration and frozen fries — still McDonald’s major fry supplier.
How Idaho businesses buy websites
Boise’s tech and food-processing giants get the headlines, but most of Idaho’s businesses are the trades, farms and shops across a state that’s mostly rural outside the Boise metro.
Trades and home services
Idaho covers a lot of ground — say plainly which towns and counties you actually serve.
Agriculture and B2B services
Suppliers to Idaho’s farming and food-processing economy benefit from being specific about what they handle.
Shops and hospitality
Ski season and the growing season both drive real swings in Idaho — keep hours and offers current.
How well do you know Idaho’s digital economy?
3 quick questions. Get all 3 right and you win a 10% off discount code. Every answer is somewhere on this page.
Idaho quiz · 1 of 3
What Fortune 500 semiconductor company was founded in the basement of a Boise dental office in 1978?
Why FastSites works here
A state that turned potato profits into a chip company understands making a smart, practical bet. A clear one-page site, live in days, at a published price, is exactly that kind of bet for a small business.