Toshiba slashes 30% of NAND production, extends end-of-year shutdowns

Toshiba Corpplans to cut its NAND production by approximately 30% next year as it wades through the global recession and the slowdown in consumer spending.

The production change will come in January and will impact Toshiba's Yokkaichi Operations plant in Mie Prefecture, Japan, which is made up of two 300-mm NAND fabs and two 200-mm NAND fabs.

Toshiba made specific note of decreased demand for memory cards and MP3 players as a factor in generating excess NAND supply and said it fully considered the situation when deciding to reduce output at Yokkaichi.

The oversupply of NANDis well known hindrance to the market's revenue growth. According to iSuppli Corp estimates, unit shipments of 1-Gbyte-equivalent NAND chips will likely rise by 126% in 2008, down from 179% in 2007, but still representing tremendous unit growth. That growth has resulted in oversupply, which, in turn, has lowered ASPs (average selling prices). In 2009, unit growth will decline to 71%, iSuppli has forecasted, as the memory market segment attempts to better balance supply and demand.

Tokyo-based Toshiba said it will continue to monitor the NAND market and will review operation plan in Yokkaichi as needed.

Toshiba also noted that system LSIs and discretes are facing weak demand for digital consumer products. As such, the company is further adjusting operating dates for its other semiconductor plants during the year-end and new-year period.

The 300-mm wafer lines producing SOCs and CMOS image sensors at Toshiba's Oita city, Oita prefecture, plant will stop on January 5 and 6 for maintenance, and other lines will stop for 22 days from December 24 to January 14, Toshiba said.

Toshiba's Kitakyushu city, Fukuoka prefecture, operations, which focuses on opto semiconductors, will stop for 25 days from December 25 to January 18.

Finally, Toshiba's Ibo-gun, Hyogo prefecture, operation will stop for 18 days from December 20 to January 6. This plant focuses on power IC and small signal IC.