Toshiba Corp. is prepping for high volume manufacturing of its proprietary 3-D flash memory, called BiCS FLASH, by acquiring new land adjacent to its Yokkaichi Operations memory production complex in the Mie, Japan prefecture. The Japanese chipmaker has acquired about 150,000 square meters of land that borders the eastern and northern parts of the Yokkaichi complex. Toshiba says the expansion of its facility will cost about $25.4 million (3 billion yen).
Toshiba says the decisions on a construction schedule, production capacity and equipment investment for the new production facilities will be made in line with the market trends within the fiscal year of 2016. The new site is expected to be ready for construction in March 2017, the company says.
NAND flash memory is gaining favor as a driving force in smartphones, tablets and other personal digital equipment as well as enterprise computing and datacenters, Toshiba says. As a result, Toshiba needs more production space for its BiCS FLASH products including a new cleanroom with dedicated equipment for the 3-D process.
This new land acquisition will provide a future site for the construction of an additional clean room for 3-D flash memories, which Toshiba says has limited space in the current facility. The added capacity will allow the Japanese company to respond to the approaching transition from 2-D to 3-D flash memories, when the market reaches a point where a new facility is needed, Toshiba says.
