Kioxia today held a groundbreaking ceremony for its state-of-the-art semiconductor fabrication facility (Fab7) at Yokkaichi Plant in Mie Prefecture, Japan. The facility will be one of the most advanced manufacturing operations in the world, dedicated to production of its proprietary 3D flash memory BiCS FLASHTM. The first phase of construction is scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2022. Construction of the new facility will be divided into two phases to allow for continued production and shipment of cutting-edge flash memory products to meet ongoing market demand.

The Fab7 facility will have an earthquake absorbing structure and an environmentally friendly design that includes the latest energy saving manufacturing equipment. Located in Yokkaichi Plant, which offers the world’s largest flash memory production capacity, the Fab7 facility will further boost Kioxia’s entire production capacity by introducing an advanced manufacturing system that utilizes AI.

Consistent with Kioxia’s successful 20-year partnership with Western Digital, the two companies regularly collaborate on facility operation. Accordingly, Kioxia and Western Digital expect to continue their joint venture investments for the Fab7 facility, including the creation of sixth-generation 3D flash memory.

Due to technological innovations, the amount of data being generated, stored and used around the world has increased exponentially. The flash memory market expects further growth driven by cloud services, 5G, IoT, AI and automated driving. As a result, the production of cutting-edge products in Kioxia Corporation’s Fab7 facility will continue to meet the increasing demand for memory around the world.

Under its mission of uplifting the world with memory, Kioxia is focused on cultivating the new era of memory. Kioxia remains committed to enhancing its position in the memory industry through capital investment and research and development that reflects market trends.