WD and Kioxia lose exabytes of flash memory due to ‘chemical pollution’

Western Digital and Kioxia have lost exabytes of flash memory due to chemical contamination at two Japanese factories. It is not clear what exactly happened. Western Digital claims to have at least 6.5 exabytes less flash memory due to the pollution.

Western Digital says production at its Yokkaichi and Kitakami factories has been disrupted by pollution. Based on the company’s “current rating,” Western Digital can provide at least 6.5 exabytes less flash memory. The company is working with Kioxia to restore production in the factories as soon as possible. The two companies have a joint venture for production in the factories.

Kioxia suspects that the contamination comes from an impure component in the 3D nand production process. This company does not specify how many fewer exabytes of flash memory it expects to ship. Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers says Western Digital is responsible for about 40 percent of what is produced in the factories, with Kioxia responsible for the rest. Rakers therefore thinks that the total impact of the pollution could be about 16EB. Nand memory demand is said to have been around 160EB in the previous quarter. The analyst therefore believes that nand memory prices will rise.

According to market researcher TrendForce, the 3D Nand memory of the two companies is mainly used in SSDs and eMMC memory. The market researcher had first predicted that by 2022 there would be a surplus of nand memory, causing this memory to fall in price. Due to the problems of Western Digital and Kioxia, this organization also expects prices to rise in the second quarter of this year.

TrendForce on Western Digital and Kioxia’s 3D Nand Problems