SanDisk and Kioxia will spend more than $31 billion on Japanese NAND flash memory production over the next six years, funding a new fabrication plant and upgrades at two existing sites. The plan depends on financial backing from the Japanese government, which the companies' CEOs discussed directly with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
SanDisk and Kioxia have committed to pouring more than $31 billion into Japanese NAND flash memory production over the next six years. That figure equals roughly 60% of what the two companies have spent in Japan across their entire 25-year partnership, compressed into less than a quarter of that time.
A new fab and two upgrades
The investment, announced on August 27, amounts to approximately 5 trillion yen. It will fund infrastructure upgrades and technology improvements at two existing facilities, Yokkaichi in Mie Prefecture and Kitakami in Iwate Prefecture. The centerpiece is a brand-new fabrication plant, Fab3, at the Kitakami site.
Fab3 alone carries an estimated price tag of 1.8 trillion yen, or roughly $11.3 billion, more than a third of the total package. Operations there are expected to begin in fiscal year 2029 or later.
For context, the Kioxia-SanDisk joint venture has invested over $50 billion, approximately 9 trillion yen, in Japan across the past quarter century. Adding $31 billion more by 2032 marks a sharp acceleration in capital deployment. The investment is explicitly tied to surging demand for high-density flash memory driven by AI workloads.
Government backing as a precondition
The plan carries a catch: it is conditional on support from the Japanese government. On the same day as the announcement, CEOs from both Kioxia and SanDisk met with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to discuss potential government financing. The companies are reportedly seeking public backing for roughly one-third of the overall investment.
A durable partnership scales up
Kioxia and SanDisk are not newcomers to the memory business. Their joint venture, extended through December 2034 in January 2026, has been one of the most durable partnerships in the semiconductor industry. Together they manufacture BiCS Flash, Kioxia's 3D NAND technology, now in its 10th generation, co-developed by both firms.
3D NAND stacks memory cells vertically rather than spreading them across a flat surface, so each new generation adds layers and increases storage density without needing proportionally more physical space. Kioxia and Western Digital, SanDisk's parent company until its recent separation, have historically ranked as the second-largest NAND producers globally behind Samsung.
Source: Crypto Briefing
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