14 DAY TRIAL // Toshiba and SanDisk have jointly announced that they have inked a non-binding memorandum to set the basis of a production joint venture with a 300-mm wafer fabrication plant in Japan. The two companies will produce NAND flash memory using their proprietary technologies.
The joint venture is still in an early stage, and the companies are now looking for a suitable site to build the wafer fab on. The most optimistic estimations say that the fab will roll out its first batch of NAND-based flash memory chips somewhere in 2010. The production capacity will be split between the Toshiba-SanDisk joint venture and Toshiba alone. 50 percent of the total production capacity will be used by the joint venture, while the other half will be managed by Toshiba. However, Toshiba will provide half its output to SanDisk on a committed foundry basis.
"NAND flash memory is enjoying rapid growth and is expected to expand with new applications in coming years. Toshiba is committed to support such growth of NAND flash memory through continued proactive capital investments in production capacity and advanced process technology. The new fab will build on the strong record of success we have achieved with SanDisk in flash memory product development and production, and further strengthen our partnership," said Shozo Saito, Corporate Senior Vice President of Toshiba Corporation and President and CEO of Toshiba's Semiconductor Company.
The agreement allows SanDisk to either convert its committed foundry capacity into the joint venture, or to convert to a non-committed foundry arrangement. The joint venture will start building the facility in early 2009.
"We are very pleased with the financing structure in the new agreement which maintains our guaranteed 50 percent of the capacity output while reducing substantially our capital expenditure commitments for funding the new fab NAND manufacturing equipment. We believe this will allow us to meet our forecasted customer needs in 2010 and beyond, while freeing up cash flow for investments in new products and in growth markets. This substantial undertaking by Toshiba and SanDisk demonstrates our confidence in the continued future success of the strong partnership between our two companies," claimed Eli Harari, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SanDisk.
The two companies will sign a definitive agreement later this year. Toshiba can currently produce 200,000 wafers a month, and the new fab will allow it to ramp its capacity to 410,000 wafers a month.