
Kioxia, Western Digital to get $690 million subsidy for wafer fab
Memory chip making team Kioxia and Western Digital will get up to 92.9 billion yen (about US$690 million) in Japanese government subsidy for their joint venture Fab 7 at Yokkaichi.
The subsidy will be granted under a designated government program aimed at facilitating corporate investment in leading-edge semiconductor production facilities and securing stable production of semiconductors in Japan.
The Yokkaichi plant is the largest semiconductor plant in Japan.
“We appreciate the support of the Japanese government and will continue to produce cutting-edge flash memory which is indispensable for a digital society where cloud services, 5G communications, IoT, AI and automated driving are expanding. We are committed to further advancing the semiconductor industry and contributing to the development of the domestic and global economies,” said Nobuo Hayasaka, CEO of Kioxia, in a statement.
David Goeckeler, CEO of Western Digital said: “We are pleased that the Japanese government recognizes the importance of memory and data storage technologies as they remain critical innovations in the semiconductor industry. We look forward to continuing to drive long-term success together with our strategic partner, Kioxia.”
With construction of the first phase of Fab7 completed, the joint-venture manufacturing facility will enable initial production output in the fall of 2022. This facility will produce 3D flash memory including 112- and 162-layer and future nodes.
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