Toshiba Breaks Ground on 3D Flash Memory Plant, R&D Center at Yokkaichi Facility

Toshiba began construction Thursday on a semiconductor fabrication plant and R&D center at its Yokkaichi Operations facility in Mie prefecture, Japan, it announced. Fab 6 will produce BiCS Flash, Toshiba’s 3D flash memory technology using flash memory cells stacked on a silicon substrate that offers density improvements over planar NAND flash, said the company. Phase one of construction is scheduled for completion summer 2018, Toshiba said. The Memory R&D center adjacent to the fab, which will develop BiCS Flash and new memory devices, is scheduled for completion this December, it said.