Kioxia Begin Construction of Fabrication Facility at Kitakami Plant in Japan

KIOXIA Europe GmbH will begin construction of a new fabrication facility (Fab2) at its Kitakami Plant in Iwate Prefecture, Japan.

It foresees the possible expansion of production of its proprietary 3D flash memory BiCS flash. Construction of the facility is scheduled to commence in April 2022 and is expected to be completed in 2023.

The new Fab2 facility will utilize AI-based manufacturing to increase the production capacity of the entire Kitakami Plant. It will further enhance product quality, allowing the company to expand its business organically and take advantage of the medium to long term growth of the flash memory market driven by the accelerating adoption of cloud services, 5G, IoT, AI, automated driving and the metaverse.

The Fab2 facility will be built on the east side of the existing Fab1 facility at Kitakami. It will have an earthquake-resistant architectural structure and environmentally friendly design that utilizes energy-saving manufacturing equipment and renewable energy sources. The firm plans to fund the capital investments for the construction of the Fab2 from its operating cash flow.

“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 plans to hold discussions with Western Digital in regards to expanding the flash joint venture to the K2 investment.