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Income tax (benefit) provision from continuing operations (Details) (USD $)
 12 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Mar. 31, 2014
Mar. 31, 2013
Results of Operations, Income before Income Taxes [Abstract]      
U.S. $ (944,000)us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesDomestic $ 28,245,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesDomestic $ (82,163,000)us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesDomestic
Foreign 346,851,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesForeign 404,109,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesForeign 234,340,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesForeign
Income before income taxes 345,907,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesExtraordinaryItemsNoncontrollingInterest 432,354,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesExtraordinaryItemsNoncontrollingInterest 152,177,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesExtraordinaryItemsNoncontrollingInterest
Current Income Tax Expense (Benefit), Continuing Operations [Abstract]      
Current Federal Tax Expense (Benefit) (3,185,000)us-gaap_CurrentFederalTaxExpenseBenefit 992,000us-gaap_CurrentFederalTaxExpenseBenefit 33,856,000us-gaap_CurrentFederalTaxExpenseBenefit
Current State and Local Tax Expense (Benefit) (24,000)us-gaap_CurrentStateAndLocalTaxExpenseBenefit 64,000us-gaap_CurrentStateAndLocalTaxExpenseBenefit 2,350,000us-gaap_CurrentStateAndLocalTaxExpenseBenefit
Current Foreign Tax Expense (Benefit) 16,602,000us-gaap_CurrentForeignTaxExpenseBenefit 30,697,000us-gaap_CurrentForeignTaxExpenseBenefit 16,950,000us-gaap_CurrentForeignTaxExpenseBenefit
Current Income Tax Expense (Benefit) 13,393,000us-gaap_CurrentIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit 31,753,000us-gaap_CurrentIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit 53,156,000us-gaap_CurrentIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Deferred Income Tax Expense (Benefit), Continuing Operations [Abstract]      
Deferred Federal Income Tax Expense (Benefit) (22,641,000)us-gaap_DeferredFederalIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit 14,445,000us-gaap_DeferredFederalIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit (16,004,000)us-gaap_DeferredFederalIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Deferred State and Local Income Tax Expense (Benefit) (1,562,000)us-gaap_DeferredStateAndLocalIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit 929,000us-gaap_DeferredStateAndLocalIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit (1,111,000)us-gaap_DeferredStateAndLocalIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Deferred Foreign Income Tax Expense (Benefit) (8,608,000)us-gaap_DeferredForeignIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit (10,054,000)us-gaap_DeferredForeignIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit (11,253,000)us-gaap_DeferredForeignIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Deferred Income Tax Expense (Benefit) (32,811,000)us-gaap_DeferredIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit 5,320,000us-gaap_DeferredIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit (28,368,000)us-gaap_DeferredIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Income tax (benefit) provision (19,418,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit 37,073,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit 24,788,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Employee Service Share-based Compensation, Tax Benefit from Compensation Expense 1,200,000us-gaap_EmployeeServiceShareBasedCompensationTaxBenefitFromCompensationExpense 1,400,000us-gaap_EmployeeServiceShareBasedCompensationTaxBenefitFromCompensationExpense 300,000us-gaap_EmployeeServiceShareBasedCompensationTaxBenefitFromCompensationExpense
Income Tax Expense (Benefit), Continuing Operations, Income Tax Reconciliation [Abstract]      
Income Tax Reconciliation, Income Tax Expense (Benefit), at Federal Statutory Income Tax Rate 121,067,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationIncomeTaxExpenseBenefitAtFederalStatutoryIncomeTaxRate 151,324,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationIncomeTaxExpenseBenefitAtFederalStatutoryIncomeTaxRate 53,262,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationIncomeTaxExpenseBenefitAtFederalStatutoryIncomeTaxRate
Income Tax Reconciliation, State and Local Income Taxes (20,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationStateAndLocalIncomeTaxes 686,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationStateAndLocalIncomeTaxes (2,054,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationStateAndLocalIncomeTaxes
Research and development tax credits - current year (9,703,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationTaxCreditsResearch (4,875,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationTaxCreditsResearch (8,263,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationTaxCreditsResearch
Research and development tax credits - prior years (1,789,000)mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationTaxCreditsResearchPriorYears 1,600,000mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationTaxCreditsResearchPriorYears (3,347,000)mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationTaxCreditsResearchPriorYears
Income Tax Reconciliation, Foreign Income Tax Rate Differential (106,939,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationForeignIncomeTaxRateDifferential (116,003,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationForeignIncomeTaxRateDifferential (61,377,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationForeignIncomeTaxRateDifferential
Income Tax Reconciliation, Increases Related to Current and Prior Year Tax Positions 26,189,000mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationIncreasesRelatedToCurrentAndPriorYearTaxPositions 16,809,000mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationIncreasesRelatedToCurrentAndPriorYearTaxPositions 44,661,000mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationIncreasesRelatedToCurrentAndPriorYearTaxPositions
Income Tax Reconciliation, Decreases Related to Prior Year Tax Positions (40,609,000)mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationDecreasesRelatedToPriorYearTaxPositions (14,581,000)mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationDecreasesRelatedToPriorYearTaxPositions (7,154,000)mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationDecreasesRelatedToPriorYearTaxPositions
Withholding taxes 5,218,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationOtherReconcilingItems 6,212,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationOtherReconcilingItems 7,267,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationOtherReconcilingItems
Change in valuation allowance (14,286,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationChangeInDeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance 0us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationChangeInDeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance 0us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationChangeInDeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
Other 1,454,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationOtherAdjustments (4,099,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationOtherAdjustments 1,793,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationOtherAdjustments
Income tax provision (19,418,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit 37,073,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit 24,788,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Increase of basic net income per share due to release of prior year tax positions $ 0.16mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationDecreasesRelatedtoPriorYearTaxPositionsEarningsPerShareBasic   $ 0.04mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationDecreasesRelatedtoPriorYearTaxPositionsEarningsPerShareBasic
Increase of diluted net income per share due to release of prior year tax positions $ 0.15mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationDecreasesRelatedtoPriorYearTaxPositionsEarningsPerShareDiluted   $ 0.03mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationDecreasesRelatedtoPriorYearTaxPositionsEarningsPerShareDiluted
Increase of basic and diluted net income per common share due to release of prior year tax positions   $ 0.07mchp_IncomeTaxReconciliationDecreasesRelatedtoPriorYearTaxPositionsEarningsPerShareBasicandDiluted  
Income Tax Holiday, Aggregate Dollar Amount 12,400,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxHolidayAggregateDollarAmount 16,800,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxHolidayAggregateDollarAmount 12,000,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxHolidayAggregateDollarAmount
Undistributed Earnings of Foreign Subsidiaries 2,800,000,000us-gaap_UndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries    
Tax Adjustments, Settlements, and Unusual Provisions $ 33,100,000us-gaap_TaxAdjustmentsSettlementsAndUnusualProvisions    
Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation, Other Adjustments     9.60%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateReconciliationOtherAdjustments