Toshiba makes a move on Samsung

TOSHIBA IS DUSTING OFF plans for expansion of its Yokkaichi plant in the Mie prefecture of Japan to build a NAND Flash factory. The plans involve setting up an $8.9 billion factory there.

This positive outlook also derives from less than horrible earnings from Toshiba's memory division, which made a smaller loss this last quarter. If all goes well, the company will be in a position to steal the NAND production top spot from Korean chaebol Samsung Electronics.

According to the Nikkei, Toshiba has forecast a rise in NAND demand, such that it justifies reinstating the expansion plans in its Yokkaichi Mie prefecture plant and getting construction in gear by mid-2010. If all goes well, the company should be churning out 32nm NAND Flash memory chips in considerable volume by the first half of 2011.

This follows another report from Nikkei, dated February 3rd, signalling that Toshiba will be decommissioning its other NAND manufacturing site in Japan and redeploying production equipment and staff to Yokkaichi.

The plant will also see Toshiba's NAND Flash memory chip output almost double, rising from 260K to 500K wafers annually. These chips will target mostly mobile phones and digital cameras. The Apple Ipod, for example, sources Toshiba's NAND Flash memory chips as its storage medium. µ