SanDisk and Kioxia have committed to investing more than $31 billion, approximately 5 trillion yen, in Japanese NAND flash memory production over the next six years. The centerpiece of this plan is a new fabrication plant, Fab3, at the Kitakami site, estimated at 1.8 trillion yen, with operations expected to begin in fiscal year 2029 or later. This amount represents roughly 60% of the $50 billion the two partners have invested in Japan across their entire 25-year collaboration, compressed into less than a quarter of that time. The investment is explicitly tied to surging demand for high-density flash memory driven by AI workloads. However, the $31 billion plan is conditional on support from the Japanese government, with the companies reportedly seeking public backing for roughly one-third of the overall investment.
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