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Kioxia and Sandisk to Invest 5 Trillion Yen in Japanese Memory Chip Production

evening · · thread: Nvidia and Wall Street Firms Partner to Raise $500 Billion for AI Infrastructure

3 sources across 2 countries · Japan · United Kingdom

Who reported this

  • Kyodo News Japan · Centre · Non-profit publisher cooperative
  • The Japan Times Japan · Centre · News2u Holdings
  • Reuters United Kingdom · Centre · Thomson Reuters Corporation

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

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Every outlet covering this story shares the same political lean; read with that in mind.

Japanese chipmaker Kioxia Holdings Corp. and its partner Sandisk Corp. plan to spend 5 trillion yen, or approximately 31 billion dollars, over the next six years to increase memory chip production. The investment comes as demand for chips linked to the artificial intelligence boom remains strong. Kioxia President Hiroo Ota and Sandisk Chairman and CEO David Goeckeler announced the plan during a meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo.

The joint venture will build a new plant at its Kitakami site in Iwate Prefecture at a cost of 1.8 trillion yen, with operations expected to begin in fiscal 2029. Additionally, the venture will increase production capacity at its Yokkaichi plant in Mie Prefecture. Kioxia and Sandisk are major producers of NAND flash memory chips used in digital devices such as smartphones and computers.

Prime Minister Takaichi described the investments as very encouraging. The semiconductor industry is one of 17 strategic fields promoted under her government's growth strategy. In response, Ota expressed hope that the government will continue to provide support for chip production.

How each side framed it

Centre
Outlets of this lean framed the event as a strategic economic expansion driven by the AI boom and supported by government growth strategies.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.