Toshiba Corp. said Tuesday (Feb. 2) it will pay about $25 million to acquire land to expand its flash memory production in Japan’s Mie prefecture.

Toshiba (Tokyo) said it is acquiring 150,000 square meters (nearly 500,000 square feet) to expand production of its proprietary BiCS flash 3D memory. The company said it expects to break ground on construction by March 2017.

The land borders the eastern and northern parts of Toshiba’s existing Yokkaichi Operations memory production complex, Toshiba said.

Toshiba announced last month it would gut its semiconductor business expect for NAND flash. The company has decided to focus strictly on flash memory and nuclear energy as its core businesses. The move is considered a necessary step to return the Japanese giant to profitability, after expensive restructuring.

Decisions on the construction schedule, production capacity and equipment investment for the new production facilities will be made in line with market trends in fiscal 2016, Toshiba said.

Production of BiCS flash—short for bit-cost scalable flash—requires a new cleanroom with dedicated equipment for the 3D process, Toshiba said. Fab 2, already under construction and expected to be completed in the first half of fiscal 2016, will initially provide this space, Toshiba said. Additional space will be available when the newly announced expansion is completed, the company said.

By: DocMemory
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