Toshiba to make power management chips on 300mm wafers to increase capacity

Toshiba says it wants to build a new fab at its existing factory in Ishikawa, to make energy management chips on 300mm wafers. This means that the company can more than double the production capacity of those chips.

The fab will be built in two phases so that the company can adapt investments to ‘market trends’, writes Toshiba. The first production should start in March of 2025, the company tells Reuters. Once this first phase is completed, Toshiba’s total production capacity for the energy management chips should be 2.5 times greater than in the 2021 fiscal year.

Construction of the plant is due to start in the spring of next year; the factory should be ready a year later. Toshiba says its energy management chips are “critical” for managing and reducing energy use in electrical appliances. The current demand for these chips is growing, due to the growth of the electric car market and the automation of industrial equipment.

So far, Toshiba says it has been able to keep up with demand by increasing production on 200mm wafers and bringing production forward on another 300mm wafer factory line by a year. The company says it aims to use only renewable energy in the factory to be built.

Nikkei Asia writes based on sources that about 100 billion yen will be involved in the construction of the factory, or about 759.2 million euros. Normally, according to Nikkei, manufacturers use 200mm wafers to make power management chips. More chips fit on the larger wafers.

A render of Toshiba’s new power management chip factory