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Memory (from 20)
The CAPEX on production equipment, Nan-
ya forecast, will decrease by about 40 per-
cent. In 2023, the CAPEX plan is to target
no more than NT$22 billion ($684.71 mil-
lion). The amount for pro-duction equip-
ment will be reduced by more than 20
percent year-over year.
A new name for an old company
After Samsung, for NAND chips, such as
“fl ash,” Kloxia, the Japanese maker with
a new name, is in the second spot. While
you may not recognize the name, this sup-
plier was earlier known as the more famil-
iar Toshiba Memory Corp.
According to ZDNet, Kloxia is a combina-
tion of the Japanese kioku (memory) and
the Greek axia for value.
In 2015, Western Digital, San Jose, ac-
quired SanDisk, a dominant maker of
memory storage products and Toshiba
Memory Corp. became a joint venture
between WD and TMC. Incidentally, one
of the principals in that deal was Sanjay
Mehrotra, now CEO of Micron.
SanDisk spun-off from TMC in March 2019,
and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Toshiba Memory Holdings Corp. It was re-
named Kloxia in October 2019. The com-
pany’s fl agship fab is in Yokkaichi, Japan.
While Samsung holds some 35.3% of the
NAND market, Kloxia is a powerful second
with 18.9 percent worldwide, according to
STATISTA.
Acquires Lite-On
In 2019, Kloxia acquired Taiwan-based
aupplier Lite-On’s solid-state business for
$165 million.
NOVEMBER 2022
In addition to its Yokkaichi plant, Kloxia
operates the K1 Line in Kitakami, Japan
where fl ash is produced. In 2020, the
company said it would add an additional
Line to be in production by next year or
2024.
Inventors of fl ash
Notably, in 1980 Fujio Masuoka, a Toshiba
engineer invented fl ash memory. In 1984,
Masuoka and colleagues developed NOR
fl ash memory.
This is Kloxia’s Kitakami, Japan fab site, where fl ash memory is
produced.
Conclusion
The phrase “it’s either feast or famine
seems apt when discussing the semicon-
ductor memory business.
While it’s been “feast” for the past several
years, the near-term prospects for memo-
ry aren’t nearly as attractive as they have
been for memory makers, as well as for
the tool vendors who sell to them.
Like McArthur’s ringing pronouncement de-
claring his future return to the Philippines,
“I shall return,” the memory business will
recover, too, and the current downcycle
will be remembered as just a tiny, cyclical
blip in the timeline of the semiconductor
industry.
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