Additional paid in capital resulting from the recognition of convertible debt instruments as two separate components - a debt component and an equity component. This bifurcation may result in a basis difference associated with the liability component that represents a temporary difference for purposes of applying Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (FAS) 109, Accounting for Income Taxes. The initial recognition of deferred taxes for the tax effect of that temporary difference is as an adjustment to additional paid in capital.

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Namespace Prefix:	mu
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

Debt - Schedule of Long-term Debt (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended			3 Months Ended							12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended
Debt - Schedule of Long-term Debt (Details) (USD $)	Jun. 02, 2011	Sep. 01, 2011	Sep. 02, 2010	Sep. 03, 2009	Oct. 28, 2010	Sep. 01, 2011 Convertible senior notes due 2014 [Member] integer decimal	Sep. 02, 2010 Convertible senior notes due 2014 [Member]	Sep. 03, 2009 Convertible senior notes due 2014 [Member]	May 31, 2007 Convertible senior notes due 2014 [Member]	Sep. 01, 2011 Capital lease obligations [Member]	Sep. 02, 2010 Capital lease obligations [Member]	Sep. 01, 2011 Convertible senior notes due 2031A [Member] decimal	Jul. 26, 2011 Convertible senior notes due 2031A [Member]	Sep. 02, 2010 Convertible senior notes due 2031A [Member]	Sep. 01, 2011 Convertible senior notes due 2031B [Member] decimal	Jul. 26, 2011 Convertible senior notes due 2031B [Member]	Sep. 02, 2010 Convertible senior notes due 2031B [Member]	Sep. 01, 2011 Convertible senior notes due 2013 [Member] integer	Sep. 02, 2010 Convertible senior notes due 2013 [Member]	Apr. 30, 2009 Convertible senior notes due 2013 [Member]	Sep. 01, 2011 Convertible senior notes due 2027 [Member] decimal	Nov. 03, 2010 Convertible senior notes due 2027 [Member]	Sep. 02, 2010 Convertible senior notes due 2027 [Member]	Jun. 02, 2011 TECH credit facility [Member]	Sep. 01, 2011 TECH credit facility [Member]	Sep. 02, 2010 TECH credit facility [Member]	Sep. 01, 2011 Mai-Liao Power note [Member]	Sep. 02, 2010 Mai-Liao Power note [Member]	Sep. 01, 2011 Other notes [Member]	Sep. 02, 2010 Other notes [Member]	Sep. 01, 2011 Sales-leaseback transactions [Member]	Sep. 01, 2011 Notes Payable [Member]	Sep. 01, 2011 Convertible senior notes 2031A and 2031B [Member] integer decimal	Jul. 26, 2011 Convertible senior notes 2031A and 2031B [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term Debt, Gross		$ 2,001,000,000	$ 2,360,000,000			$ 815,000,000	$ 1,058,000,000			$ 423,000,000	$ 527,000,000	$ 255,000,000		$ 0	$ 234,000,000		$ 0	$ 139,000,000	$ 230,000,000		$ 135,000,000	$ 130,000,000	$ 0		$ 0	$ 348,000,000	$ 0	$ 196,000,000	$ 0	$ 1,000,000		$ 1,578,000,000		$ 487,000,000
Less current portion		(140,000,000)	(712,000,000)
Long-term debt		1,861,000,000	1,648,000,000
Stated interest rate (in hundredths)						1.875%						1.50%			1.875%			4.25%			1.875%
Principal outstanding						949,000,000	1,300,000,000		1,300,000,000			345,000,000	345,000,000		345,000,000	345,000,000				230,000,000	175,000,000
Discount						(134,000,000)	(242,000,000)			(75,000,000)		(90,000,000)	(91,000,000)		(111,000,000)	(112,000,000)					(40,000,000)	(45,000,000)										(375,000,000)
Carrying amount of euity component						368,000,000						89,000,000			109,000,000						40,000,000
Remaining discount amortization perid (in years)						2.8						6.9			8.9						5.8
Interest Costs Incurred [Abstract]
Effective interest rate (in hundredths)						7.90%						6.50%			7.00%						6.90%
Interest cost related to contractual interest rate						19,000,000	24,000,000	25,000,000				1,000,000			1,000,000						3,000,000
Interest costs related to amortization of discount and issuance costs						46,000,000	56,000,000	52,000,000				1,000,000			1,000,000						5,000,000
Effective interest rate at end of period (in hundredths)																										3.90%		12.10%
Due date										Aug. 31, 2023																					May 31, 2016
Convertible Debt [Abstract]
initial conversion rate (in shares)						70.2679												196.7052															105.2632
Principal amount per debenture used in coversion rate						1,000												1,000															1,000
Conversion price (in dollars per share)						$ 14.23												$ 5.08			$ 10.90												$ 9.50
Minimum number of trading days (in days)		20D				20D												20D															20D
Consecutive trading period (in days)		30D				30D												30D															30D
Threshold percentage of applicable conversion price for holder (in hundredths)						130.00%																											130.00%
Threshold percentage of applicable conversion price for entity (in hundredths)																		135.00%															130.00%
Approximate minimum closing price for entity (in dollars per share)																		$ 6.86															$ 12.35
Early retirement make whole premium (basis points)																																	150
Approximate minimum closing price (in dollars per share)						$ 18.50																											$ 12.35
Percentage of principal amount repurchase price (in hundredths)						100.00%												100.00%
Payments of Debt Issuance Costs																																	18,000,000
Additional Paid In Capital Equity Component Of Convertible Debt																																		198,000,000
Debt Issuance Costs Incurred During Noncash Or Partial Noncash Transaction Deferred																																		13,000,000
Factor used to determine eligibility for conversion (in hundredths)						0.98																											0.98
Proceeds from equipment sale-leaseback transactions		268,000,000	0	4,000,000																											268,000,000
Repayments of Long-term Debt	250,000,000	1,215,000,000	840,000,000	429,000,000																				250,000,000
Previously restricted cash released upon repayment of TECH credit facility																								60,000,000
Long-term Debt, Gross, current period additions											121,000,000																				246,000,000
Weighted-average effective interest rate (in hundredths)										6.10%	7.20%
Weighted-average effective interest rate of sale leaseback additions (in hundredths)																															5.40%
Capital lease transactions weighted average effective interest rate (in hundredths)											9.50%
Debt Restructuring Agreement Execution Date					10/28/2010
Long-term Debt, by Maturity [Abstract]
2012										151,000,000																						0
2013										80,000,000																						0
2014										78,000,000																						1,088,000,000
2015										73,000,000																						0
2016										45,000,000																						0
2017 and thereafter										$ 71,000,000																						$ 865,000,000