Kioxia (formerly Toshiba) and Western Digital have reported pollution problems at their shared factories in Japan. They did not specify the nature of the contamination, but two factories in Yokkaichi and Kitakami were affected.
In its report on the incident, Kioxia did not specify the extent of the casualties. Western Digital provided more details. Its statement refers to the loss of at least 6.5 exabytes (~6.8 million terabytes) of 3D BiCS NAND memory due to contamination.
The companies have not yet specified the timing of the restoration of production. Analysts believe that this may take 2-3 months. The effect of such an accident will be felt on the market for several months after the restoration of production.
Recall that Kioxia occupies 8.5% of the 3D NAND memory market, and Western Digital – 15.4%. At the end of last year, Samsung’s 3D NAND memory factory in Xi’an went into emergency operation due to a hard lockdown due to the new outbreak of COVID-19. All this will definitely affect prices in the market, but analysts do not yet give forecasts.
