Kioxia and WD receive a subsidy of up to 669 million euros for a chip factory in Japan

The joint venture of memory manufacturers Kioxia and Western Digital will receive up to 669 million euros in subsidies for the construction of its Fab7 chip factory in Japan. The two companies announced this on Wednesday. The companies will jointly produce flash memory.

The Fab7 chip factory will be located in Mie prefecture, op Kioxia’s Yokkaichi campus. The construction of this factory already started at the end of 2020. The first ‘phase’ of this factory has now been completed and production is expected to start there this fall. Kioxia and Western Digital will collaborate in the development and production of advanced flash memory under their existing joint venture.

The factory will be equipped with production equipment to make 3D flash memory with 112 and 162 layers, but the companies will later also produce memory chips on ‘future nodes’ with more layers. Such flash memory can be used, among other things, for memory and storage for PCs, servers and telephones, for example.

The subsidy of 92.9 billion yen, the equivalent of about 669 million euros, will be paid out under a program by the Japanese government to strengthen the chip sector in the country, the companies write. in a press release. Earlier this year, the country came up with a package of 4.3 billion euros for that industry.

Japan follows, among others, the United States and the European Union, which respectively a Chips for America Act and a European Chips Act to strengthen their position in the semiconductor sector. This in response to chip shortages in combination with geopolitical tensions. TSMC and Sony are also jointly building a chip factory in Japan and will receive in return almost 2.9 billion euros in subsidy.

Kioxia’s Fab7