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Juheng.com pointed out that driven by technologies such as cloud and 5G communications, the medium and long-term demand for memory continues to be promising. Kioxia has invested huge sums of money in equipment investment, aiming to compete with the industry leader South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix, which bought Intel’s NAND business.

Kioxia’s new plant in the Beishang plant is called "K2" and is expected to be twice the size of the "K1" plant that started operations in the first half of 2020. Kioxia has already begun preparations for the land of approximately 150,000 square meters to the east and north of K1, and is currently looking for ways to acquire land in the southeast of K1.

It is reported that the production equipment used in the K2 plant in the future will be based on the existing equipment of the Yokkaichi plant, which is the main production force of Kioxia. In the 2 trillion yen investment, in addition to the construction cost of the K2 plant and ancillary facilities, it also includes the equipment supplementary cost of the Yokkaichi plant. In terms of equipment investment, Kioxia may adopt the same approach as in the past, sharing costs with its partner Western Digital.

The construction of the K2 plant will begin around the spring of 2022. It is expected that the plant will be completed in the spring of 2023, and the production of 3D NAND flash memory will start in a few months. At present, the new factory building of Kioxia Yokkaichi Factory is also under construction. The project is divided into two phases. The first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2022.

As the international situation continues to change, places including the United States and Europe are advancing the process of semiconductor autonomy. Japan is also aware of the importance of semiconductor manufacturing and is accelerating the attraction of investment and the reconstruction of the domestic supply chain.