Toshiba Plans to Build New Flash Memory Plant in Iwate Pref.

By Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Jul. 7–TOKYO — Toshiba Corp. is considering building a new plant to make NAND-type flash memories mainly used in digital cameras and portable music players, possibly in Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, company officials said Thursday.

Toshiba is expected to invest 600 billon yen for the project apparently with the U.S. firm SanDisk Inc., to begin production in fiscal 2008.

Toshiba is planning to take the step to meet the rapidly growing needs for such semiconductors, which are core components of mobile phones and other digital appliances that are becoming popular worldwide.

In May, Toshiba announced a midterm managerial plan which includes a facility investment totaling 2.04 trillion yen for three years through fiscal 2008, with half of the budget earmarked for semiconductor operation.

Toshiba and SanDisk together have about 40 percent of share in the world’s flash memory market, trailing the market leader Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea.

Toshiba expects the market to expand to over 2.6 trillion yen in 2008 and hopes to maintain its current share by boosting production.

Toshiba hopes to lower production costs through mass production to survive in the worldwide competition.

The new plant is likely to be built inside the site of a Toshiba affiliate in Kitakami. Its size will be about the same as that of a Toshiba plant in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, with construction of a new building likely to begin next month.

The new plant is scheduled to start production in October-December next year.

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