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The next wave of 300mm fab expansions is now underway with the official announcement from Toshiba that it will start building Fab 5 in July, 2010 at its major fab complex in Yokkaichi, Japan. The NAND flash facility will be similar in size to Fab 4, which has an official capacity of 210,000 wafer starts per month (wspm) and is one of the largest 300mm facilities ever built.

Toshiba said that construction would be completed by the spring of 2011, highlighting the need for Toshiba to add capacity for NAND flash production later in 2011. First phase tool install should therefore take place during the second quarter of 2011 with low volume production in the fourth quarter. Toshiba did not say at what technology node Fab 5 would initially ramp.

The company noted that the new facility would have energy-saving features for cleanroom operations, which included waste heat recycling and carbon emissions 12% lower than Fab 4.

Toshiba was originally expected to start building Fab 5 in the first quarter of 2010, however the economic recession and massive over capacity in the memory market required the company to postpone construction.