Toshiba eyes Samsung's Flash crown

The chairman of Toshiba Semiconductor expects his company to outstrip Samsung and become the world's biggest supplier of Nand Flash memory by 2008.

Shozo Saito said at the opening of a major manufacturing centre in Japan named Fab 4 that Flash production is going to become an increasingly important part of Toshiba's business.

The company expects to be supplying 40 per cent of the world's Nand Flash by 2008.

"Fab 4 will feature world-class manufacturing capabilities in scale and productivity," said Saito.

"It will support us in reinforcing our leadership in the fast growing global market for higher density Nand Flash memories, and provide a powerful engine for growth."

Toshiba partnered with SanDisk to build the plant, which will begin production in 2007. Once operational it will ramp up to 80,000 chip wafers a month by next year, with an eventual capacity for 210,000 wafers a month.

Dr Eli Harari, chairman of SanDisk Corporation, said: "The enormous size and technology scope of Fab 4 reflect our confidence and optimism for the future.

"We believe that it will enable us to competitively meet the growing demand for Flash storage from our global customers in the years ahead."

The plant is designed to dampen motion to make it earthquake proof, and full backup power has been built in to enable production to continue in the event of a blackout.