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Steve Appleton sat down with NewsChannel 7 for an exclusive interview Thursday in Salt Lake City, UT.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - Twenty-five-years ago Thursday, Steve Appleton was hired at a burgeoning Boise technology company, called Micron. 

He's spent half of those years as CEO -- but recent rumors suggested his time was up.

It's been a rough year for Micron -- and when times are tough -- those at the top are targeted.

Appleton says reports of his retirement -- are greatly exaggerated.

"Do I look like a person ready to retire?,” Appleton said. “We're pretty driven to make this business successful and that's what we're focused on."

He's spent a quarter century helping build Micron from a hometown tech company to one of the world leaders in memory chips.

But a drastic DRAM downturn in 2007 put CEO Steve Appleton on the hot seat.  His company suffered huge losses -- 1100 workers were let go -- and recently, an industry analyst speculated Appleton could be among those on the way out.

"For me, I'm pretty accustomed to lots of speculation and rumor in the market place that's simply not true,” Appleton said. “I just move forward.  The way I would characterize it is that actions speak louder than words and we're going to move this company forward and I like where we're at."

"There are people who think I should step down, there are a lot of people who think I'm the right person for the job," he said.

At the company's annual analyst meeting, Appleton's job is to convince attendees that Micron's doing well -- and Appleton says it is.

"I'm not here to brag, but I'm here to say we've come a heck of a long way in the last 6-7 months and relative to our competition we're starting to look very, very good."

Appleton says the company's balance sheet looks good, with $2 billion in the bank -- and upwards of $2 billion in cash flow projected for 2008. 

But he admits, 2007 was tough, for the industry, the company, the workers - and for him.  After 25 years of ups and downs -- he's still learning.

"It's a learning process.  I'd like to think that every quarter that goes by I'm a better CEO and that's what I strive to do,” he said.

Micron typically holds its winter analysts conference at Sun Valley, but the company wanted to showcase its manufacturing site in Lehi, Utah just outside Salt Lake City.