Kioxia will build new fabrication facility at Kitakami plant to increase 3D NAND flash memory yield

Kioxia announced that it will begin the expansion of its plant in Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, with the construction of a new Fab2 plant to increase the production of 3D NAND flash memory. Kioxia said that it plans to start construction in April 2022 and is expected to be completed in 2023, and will focus on the production of BiCS Flash in the future.

The new Fab2 factory will be built on the east side of the current Fab1 factory, using the most advanced energy-saving and environmentally friendly manufacturing equipment, and the use of renewable energy, while strengthening the seismic structural design of the building. In addition, Kioxia will utilize cutting-edge manufacturing technology based on artificial intelligence to increase the production capacity of the entire Kitakami Plant. This will meet the growing demand for flash memory in different fields such as cloud services, 5G, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, and the Metaverse, and better expand Kioxia’s flash memory business.

“The construction of Fab2 is a key milestone for KIOXIA to further strengthen our strategic development and production capability for advanced memory products, so that we will be in an even better competitive position to address the increasing market demand for memory products,” said Nobuo Hayasaka, President and CEO, KIOXIA Corporation. “We are pleased to announce that Fab2 will not only increase the production capacity of KIOXIA but will also serve as an important base for implementing the kind of high level and sustainable operations that KIOXIA strives to achieve going forward.”

Kioxia will fund the construction of Fab 2 from its operating cash flow. However, Kioxia also plans to discuss with Western Digital, and in the future, the flash memory project of cooperation between the two parties will be expanded to invest in the Fab 2 factory.