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Toshiba and SanDisk announce second 300mm fab in a year |
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Apr 06, 2006 at 02:22 PM |
 Toshiba Corporation and SanDisk have ended speculation on building another 300mm fab at Toshiba's Yokkaichi, Japan, fab complex with the announcement that ‘Fab 4' construction will start in August 2006.
Construction is expected to last 12 months and after first phase tool install 1st silicon is expected before the end of 2007. The Flash partners announced their first 300mm production facility ‘Fab 3,' in early April 2005. Production ramp started in the 2H05 with an initial capacity ramp of 10,000wspm. According to an announcement Fab 4 will be similar in size to Fab 3. Total capacity of Fab 3 was put at 62,500wspm with a cleanroom space of 34,500m2.
"The NAND flash memory market is enjoying rapid growth, to which Toshiba has responded by expanding production capacity," stated Mr. Masashi Muromachi, Corporate Senior Vice President of Toshiba Corporation and President & CEO of Toshiba's Semiconductor Company. "We will maintain leadership in the market through continued proactive capital investments in production capacity and advanced process technology and multi-level cell technology. Fab 4 will further secure our ability to respond to demand for higher-density NAND flash in this rapidly growing market," said Muromachi.
In February this year the partners announced increased spending on capital equipment for 2006 to increase the ramp rate at Fab3 with a further $500 million US dollar investment over 12 months. Fab3 ramp was expected to reach 48,750wspm by March 2007 but the extra funds has meant wafer starts have been revised upwards to now reach 70,000wspm in the same time frame.
Toshiba also announced in February that it will be increasing capital expenditure in this financial year from around $2.0 billion US dollars to $2.4 billion which will be used to assist in the ramp of Fab3.
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