Kioxia to Mass Produce 218-Layer NAND Flash in July

Nikkei News reports that Kioxia, a leading Japanese NAND Flash manufacturer, has fully restored its production capacity to 100% as of June this year, thanks to the surge in AI demand and a market rebound. Additionally, the company's Yokkaichi plant is poised to commence mass production of 218-layer NAND Flash products in July.

Since October 2022, Kioxia had been implementing significant production cuts—exceeding 30%—due to a downturn in demand for end devices like smartphones. With the market now recovering, Kioxia's production has returned to full capacity. The upcoming 218-layer NAND Flash chips are designed to meet the growing needs of generative AI and big data storage, offering around 50% more storage capacity and consuming approximately 30% less power during data writes compared to existing models.

In a notable development, Kioxia has announced a partnership with Western Digital to invest 729 billion yen in the production of advanced flash memory products. A new facility at the Kitakami plant site is expected to become operational in 2025, with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry providing up to 243 billion yen in subsidies to support this initiative.