Kioxia returns to producing 3D NAND, SSD prices may stabilize

Kioxia returned to producing 3D NAND, after a year and a half of cuts in its manufacturing to balance the accounts and avoid making a loss. According to Nikkei, the corporation is taking this action thanks to the improved market conditions.

And how does this affect you? With the return of the fourth largest 3D NAND manufacturer to the market, competition to achieve greater representation in sales is boosted and this could cause a drop in prices charged for SSDs.

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Nikkei also indicates that Kioxia has secured a 540 yen (approximately $3.5 billion) refinancing and a new 210 billion yen ($1.3 billion) line of credit from its lenders to get back to full steam in 3D NAND production. .

It is noted that the Yokkaichi and Kitakami factories returned to work with full production this June. Additionally, both Kioxia and Western Digital plan a combined investment of $4.6 billion to install more advanced production tools – with the Japanese government subsidizing approximately 1/3 of the costs.

Kioxia returns to the game

Although the PC and smartphone market has stabilized after a slow recovery, data center requests for 3D NAND have grown even more and it is this market that Kioxia has its eye on.

For this quarter, which covers the months of April to June, it is expected that prices will increase by 13% to 18%. However, with one of the major manufacturers starting to produce memory again, it is possible that we will see prices stabilize and even show a drop – which will not happen overnight, but is already a hope.

The new credit obtained by Kioxia was provided by institutions such as Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, MUFG Bank and Mizuho Bank – which show confidence in the manufacturer’s recovery and in addition to refinancing what they had already injected money into in the past, opened new credit for its growth. This includes purchasing new equipment and machinery.

Source: Tom’s Hardware