TOKYO, April 14 - Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has started constructing a 300-millimeter (mm) wafer fab at Yokkaichi Operations, Toshiba’s key production base for semiconductor memories. Once the high-productivity facility is complete, its output will be channelled to NAND flash memory, a key non-volatile storage component used in a wide range of digital electronic devices.
In the period through to the end of fiscal year 2006, the total investment in the new Yokkaichi facility is expected to reach 270-billion yen (approximately US$ 2.5 billion at the current exchange rate). Toshiba will fund the construction of the building, and FlashVision Japan, the joint venture between Toshiba and its NAND flash strategic partner SanDisk Corporation of the USA will fund its advanced manufacturing equipment, with each partner providing an equal share of the funds.
The 300mm facility is expected to come on line in the second half of FY2005 (October 2005-March 2006), with an initial capacity of 10,000 wafers per month. The full capacity is expected to rise to 37,500 wafers per month. The output during each phase of expansion will be equally shared between Toshiba and SanDisk, a provision that will form part of the definitive agreement on the facility (Fab 3) that the companies expect to sign in June 2004. The fab still has space to expand its capacity, and further investment could take the output to as high as 62,500 wafers a month. At the time of production start-up, the new facility will employ 90-nanometer (nm) process technology, which was jointly developed by Toshiba and SanDisk. Under current plans, the fab will transfer to the 70nm process in the first half of FY2006 and to the 55nm process in 2007. An environmentally conscious design will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and perfluorocarbons from the new clean room. Also the energy consumed in wafer processing will be 30% lower than that in Toshiba’s current 200mm wafer clean rooms.
Demand for NAND flash memory is increasing due to the development of digital consumer devices, including digital still cameras, cell phones with cameras, memory cards and MP3 music players. The versatility of NAND flash continues to reach new applications, such as increasingly popular USB-compatible memory devices. Toshiba expects the market to see a 30% annual growth from 2003 to 2005, from 380-billion yen to 680-billion yen. Toshiba believes that the construction of the new clean room and the development of advanced NAND technology with SanDisk will assure the superior competitiveness of FlashVision Japan in NAND flash. The company will have a greater response to the growing demand for NAND flash in an increasingly strong market.
Outline of New 300-wafter Facility at Yokkaichi Operations
- - Building Structure: Five-story building
- - Site Area: 24,300m2
- - Floor Area: 113,000m2
- - Area of Clean Room: 34,500m2
- - Start of the Construction: April 2004
- - Completion of Building: December 2004 (projected)
- - Start of Mass Production: Second half of FY2005 (projected)
Outline of Yokkaichi Operations
- - Location: 800 Yamanoisshiki-cho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Prefecture, Japan
- - Established: 1992
- - General Manager: Jiro Ooshima
- - Employees: Approximately 1,700
- - Total Area: Approximately 312,000m2
- - Total Building Area: Approximately 180,000m2 (excluding new 300mm facility)
Note: 1 nanometer = one billionth of a metre
Over Toshiba
Toshiba Information Systems Benelux is een dochteronderneming van de Computer Systems Division van Toshiba Europe GmbH, een leverancier van portable computers. Naast notebooks levert de organisatie mobiele en draadloze Pocket PC’s, accessoires en mobiele server oplossingen voor de zakelijke en consumentenmarkt. Voor meer informatie zie www.computers.toshiba.nl
De Computer Systems Division van Toshiba streeft bij de ontwikkeling van haar geavanceerde notebooks, PDA’s en servers naar de ultieme vrijheid van werken. Toshiba is toonaangevend fabrikant van mobiele producten uitgerust met WiFi- en Bluetooth-connectiviteit; dé wereldstandaarden voor draadloze systemen op kantoor, thuis en onderweg.
Het moederbedrijf, Toshiba Corporation ontwikkelt informatie- en communicatiesystemen, elektronische componenten en consumentenelektronica voor uiteenlopende markten. Het bedrijf heeft een positie verworven als innovator op het gebied van geavanceerde componenten, producten en systemen. Toshiba heeft wereldwijd 166.000 medewerkers en de jaaromzet bedraagt ruim 47 miljard US$ (2003).