Overview
- SanDisk and Kioxia announced a joint plan to invest roughly 5 trillion yen (about $31 billion) to upgrade Yokkaichi, expand Kitakami and build a new Fab3 at Kitakami.
- The planned Fab3 is the centerpiece of the package with an estimated cost of about 1.8 trillion yen and operations targeted in fiscal 2029 or later.
- The companies met with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and have said the program is conditional on substantial public backing, with reports that they are seeking about one-third of the total from the government.
- The firms tie the push to surging demand for high-density 3D NAND used in AI and cloud workloads and point to recent joint development of 10th-generation BiCS 3D NAND as the technology base for the expansion.
- If implemented, the spending would sharply accelerate the venture’s capital deployment in Japan, reshape global NAND supply dynamics, affect local jobs and supplier contracts, and could draw regulatory scrutiny over market concentration.