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Kioxia and SanDisk Extend Five-Year Partnership: Largest FlashMemory Joint Factory

2026-02-02
Japanese memory chip giant Kioxia Holdings' subsidiary Kioxia Corporation and American company SanDisk have jointly announced the extension of their joint venture agreement at the Yokkaichi plant in Mie Prefecture, Japan, by five years. The agreement, originally set to expire on December 31, 2029, will now continue until December 31, 2034, marking a new chapter in the two companies' deep collaboration spanning over 25 years. According to the renewal terms, SanDisk will pay Kioxia $1.165 billion for manufacturing services and supply continuity assurance, with this amount to be paid in installments between 2026 and 2029.

Strategic Value of the World's Largest Flash Memory Joint Venture

Kioxia and SanDisk Extend Five-Year PartnershipThe core asset of this renewal—the Yokkaichi plant—is acclaimed by the industry as "the world's largest flash memory production base." This manufacturing hub has achieved real-time processing of 50TB of manufacturing data daily through intelligent transformation, maintaining capacity utilization at industry-high levels. Both parties will continue leveraging artificial intelligence-enabled smart manufacturing technologies and economies of scale to ensure stable production of advanced 3D flash memory. These high-end 3D storage products are crucial for meeting the massive demand generated by generative artificial intelligence applications and have become core hardware infrastructure supporting AI data center operations.
Notably, the joint venture agreement for Kioxia's Kitakami plant in Iwate Prefecture has also been adjusted synchronously, aligning with the Yokkaichi plant agreement with its validity period similarly extended to December 31, 2034. The Kitakami Fab2 production line, completed in 2025, is scheduled to commence mass production in the first half of 2026, and this agreement extension provides a stable cooperation framework for the release of this new capacity.

$1.165 Billion Manufacturing Service Fee

Unlike the 2017 agreement that was extended for eight years, the most significant breakthrough in the new terms is that SanDisk must pay an additional $1.165 billion in manufacturing service fees to obtain capacity usage rights—a sum completely independent of SanDisk's previously invested capital expenditures. Since initiating cooperation 25 years ago at the dawn of the NAND industry, Kioxia and SanDisk have achieved annual supply volumes of hundreds of exabytes of flash memory products, with capacity continuing to expand to address the global flash memory market demand projected to reach $150 billion by 2026.

Market Restructuring Amid Explosive AI Demand

This partnership renewal comes at a critical juncture when the NAND flash memory market is undergoing structural transformation due to explosive demand from AI infrastructure. SanDisk's latest financial report shows second fiscal quarter 2026 revenue reaching $3.025 billion, representing 61% year-over-year growth, with GAAP net income surging 672% to $803 million and gross margin jumping to 50.9%. Goeckeler explicitly stated on the earnings call that data centers are expected to become the largest market for NAND flash memory for the first time in 2026, with customer demand far exceeding supply beyond 2026. However, SanDisk maintains its existing capital expenditure plan, refusing to expand production blindly—this prudent attitude forms strategic complementarity with Kioxia's manufacturing capabilities. Kioxia and SanDisk reaffirmed their commitment to continuing joint R&D of 3D flash memory technology, conducting joint investments aligned with market trends, maximizing synergies, and jointly seizing the industrial dividends of the artificial intelligence era.

Semicone IC Chip Distributor

Semicone is a global electronic component distribution company that focuses on providing customers with one-stop IC procurement solutions. Semicone's products cover semiconductor components such as memory chips, logic devices, power management, and microcontrollers, and are widely used in consumer electronics, industrial control, automotive electronics, communication equipment, and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
With a stable supply chain system and a global procurement network, Semicone offers customers original equipment quality assurance and flexible supply support. Here are several popular IC components of Semicone:
● MX29GL256FHT2I-90Q: Macronix 256Mb NOR Flash memory, suitable for industrial-level code storage
● TCA39306DCUR: TI dual-channel bidirectional voltage level converter, supporting I²C bus level matching
● PIC24FJ64GL306-I/PT: Microchip Technology 16-bit low-power microcontroller, integrating a rich set of peripheral interfaces, suitable for embedded control applications
● TLV70718PDQNR: TI ultra-low noise LDO voltage regulator, output voltage 1.8V, suitable for RF and sensitive analog circuit power supply

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