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

The joint venture of memory manufacturers Kioxia and Western Digital will receive up to 669 million euros in subsidy 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 the Mie prefecture, on Kioxia’s Yokkaichi Campus. 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 autumn. Kioxia and Western Digital will collaborate under their existing joint venture to develop and manufacture advanced flash memory.

The factory will be equipped with production equipment to make 112 and 162 layer 3D flash memory, 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, for example, PCs, servers and telephones.

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

Japan follows, among others, the United States and the European Union, which are 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 building a chip factory in Japan together and will receive almost 2.9 billion euros in subsidy.

Kioxia’s Fab7