Kioxia Holdings Corporation and SanDisk Corporation said they plan to invest roughly ¥5tn, more than $31bn, in Japan by 2032, extending a joint venture that has run for more than 25 years.
The number comes with a condition attached. The disclosure filed with the Tokyo Stock Exchange states the investment is planned "on the premise of support from the [Japanese] government," and the joint press release repeats the same qualifier without naming a specific subsidy programme, an approval timeline, or a funding split between the two partners.
The money is earmarked for continued construction of production equipment, related infrastructure and technology upgrades at the two plants named in the disclosure, the sites where Kioxia and SanDisk jointly build advanced 3D flash memory. The companies say the expansion is meant to secure mid- to long-term bit growth and stable supply of flash memory as AI-driven demand for large-capacity, high-performance, power-efficient chips keeps rising.
| Period | Amount (JPY) | Amount (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Past 25 years | ≈¥9tn | More than $50bn |
| Planned through 2032 | ≈¥5tn | More than $31bn |
The new figure sits against a long track record. Kioxia and SanDisk say they have already invested about ¥9tn, more than $50bn, in Japan-based production over the past 25 years. In January this year the two companies extended the joint-venture contract covering one of the two plants through December 2034, locking in the plant-level partnership for the better part of the next decade even before this larger capital commitment was announced.
Kioxia's representative director and president said the plan strengthens the long-running partnership with SanDisk and reflects Kioxia's intent to serve growing AI-society demand for large-capacity, high-performance, power-efficient flash memory. He added that Kioxia is grateful for past Japanese government support and views continued, strategic government backing as important to the group's international competitiveness going forward, an unusually direct statement for a company to make in its own investment announcement. SanDisk chairman and chief executive David Goeckeler said the investment is consistent with the company's business strategy and financial guidance, and that it will create economic opportunity in the communities where the venture operates while serving as a symbol of US-Japan economic cooperation.
The companies also frame the plan as aligned with the current government's economic policy priorities, describing it as support for a strategically important field through expanded advanced-semiconductor manufacturing capacity. That framing signals the companies expect the government link to matter for how the plan is received in Tokyo, but the disclosure does not specify what form of state support is being sought, what conditions might attach to it, or when a decision might come. Until that detail surfaces, the ¥5tn figure remains a plan conditioned on government support that the companies have not yet spelled out.