SanDisk Invested $7 Billion in Silicon Manufacturing in Japan

SanDisk Corporation is celebrating its tenth anniversary of participation in joint venture fab operations in Yokkaichi, Japan, and its twentieth anniversary of sales activities in the country.

Over the past decade, SanDisk has invested more than $7 billion in silicon manufacturing resulting in advanced wafer production facilities. Not only does this make SanDisk one of Japan’s largest foreign investors, but these facilities produce NAND flash memory that is helping fuel the smart digital lifestyle for people and companies on a global scale.

Together with its strategic joint venture partner Toshiba Corp., SanDisk has been driving innovations in NAND flash memory that have enabled consumer electronics devices such as tablets, smartphones, and portable personal storage devices, as well as SSDs for ultra thin-and-light computers and the enterprise.

"Flash memory has become one of the most important technologies of the 20th and early 21st centuries," said industry analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies. "It revolutionized the photography industry. It revolutionized the PC and the mobile industries. And it’s on track to revolutionize the enterprise going forward. SanDisk’s strategy and investments in Japan have played a critical role in advancing technologies we take for granted today, and I fully expect their leadership will be a key part of the technology landscape for many years to come."

"On behalf of the four thousand SanDisk employees, and our customers and partners worldwide, I am pleased to mark this important milestone of two successful decades in Japan," said Sanjay Mehrotra, SanDisk president and CEO. "Japan has provided a solid foundation for SanDisk’s success. Our joint venture with Toshiba is one of the most successful and long lasting in the semiconductor industry, and together, we are helping consumers and businesses around the world benefit from leading-edge flash solutions."

"SanDisk and Toshiba have enjoyed a long-term partnership and it is our pleasure to celebrate this milestone," said Yasuo Naruke, corporate VP and VP responsible for memories at Toshiba’s Semiconductor & Storage Products Company. "Our joint venture has achieved great success for both companies and for the entire industry. We, as the flash memory inventor, look forward to continuing our relationship with SanDisk to bring innovative solutions to market."

"Over the last decade, the evolution and proliferation of flash memory has been the foundation for the evolution in digital imaging, music and mobile computing," according to Joseph Unsworth, research VP at Gartner. "As we look at today and the future, flash memory is again playing a fundamental role in the evolution of personal and cloud computing while transforming data center storage architectures."

"I am delighted to commemorate these milestones in Japan, and to recognize the countless contributions made by our employees that have enabled this success," said Atsuyoshi Koike, SanDisk’s SVP of technology and fab operations, and president of SanDisk Japan Limited.