Kioxia and WDC invest in new memory manufacturing facility
Kioxia and Western Digital Corp. have finalised a formal agreement to jointly invest in the first phase of the Fab7 (Y7) manufacturing facility at Kioxia’s Yokkaichi Plant in the Mie Prefecture of Japan.
With construction of the first phase of Y7 completed, the JV investment will enable initial production output to start in the fall of this year.
“We are very pleased to further deepen our strategic partnership with Western Digital through this joint investment in Y7,” says Nobuo Hayasaka, President and CEO of Kioxia in a press realse. “The rapid digitization of societies underpins accelerating use of memory products. We will continue to leverage our technological partnership and economies of scale to develop and produce cutting-edge semiconductor products and achieve organic corporate growth.”
The JV investment adds a sixth flash memory manufacturing facility to the Yokkaichi Plant. The first phase of the Y7 facility will produce 3D flash memory including 112- and 162-layer and future nodes.
“This joint investment in Y7 accentuates our productive and positive relationship with Kioxia, underscoring our substantial global share in memory, the ongoing importance of memory and storage and our multi-faceted commitment to Japan,” says Dr. Siva Sivaram, President, Technology & Strategy, Western Digital. “Our strategic partnership with Kioxia has led to the introduction of leading-edge technology while increasing the scale of manufacturing and R&D capabilities. We look forward to continuing to drive long-term success together.”
Kioxia and Western Digital says that the companies will continue to maximise synergies through joint development of 3D flash memory and joint investments.
