Ota said memory chip prices have risen sufficiently and the company aims to prevent further increases that could hurt long-term artificial intelligence demand. Memory chip manufacturers are expanding production capacity to meet growing orders from AI service providers, with prices rising by double or triple digits.
SK Inc. Chairman Chey Tae-won mentioned a potential manufacturing partnership between Kioxia and SK Hynix in an interview with the Asahi newspaper earlier this month. An SK Hynix representative clarified that Chey spoke in general terms and no discussions are taking place.
"We can’t just say, ’Well then, let’s make it three companies,’" Ota said in an interview with Bloomberg News, referring to a hypothetical three-way manufacturing arrangement with SK Hynix and Sandisk. "We have no idea what prompted (Chey) to say what he did. " Ota confirmed the Korean and Japanese chipmakers are not in talks about joint production.
Kioxia specializes in NAND flash memory chips used for high-capacity data storage. The company and Sandisk plan to spend more than ¥5 trillion ($33 billion) to expand production capacity at their jointly owned facilities in northern and central Japan. SK Hynix plans a 54 trillion won ($40 billion) expansion of its chipmaking facilities in Korea and is building an advanced memory packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana.
SK Hynix owns bonds convertible into a 14.19% stake in Kioxia. The two companies are collaborating on nonvolatile magnetic memory development, while Kioxia sources DRAM from SK Hynix for some solid-state drives.
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