August 27, 2026 / SemiMedia / — Kioxia plans to build a new NAND flash manufacturing facility at its Kitakami plant in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, with investment expected to exceed ¥1 trillion, or approximately $6.27 billion.

According to a Japanese media report, Kioxia executives are expected to visit the Japanese prime minister’s office on August 27 to announce the construction plan. The facility would become the third NAND flash fab at the company’s Kitakami site, with production targeted to begin in 2029 or later.

Kioxia President and CEO Hiroo Ota said during an investor briefing in June that discussions on the new facility had begun as part of the company’s long-term NAND capacity expansion plans.

Kioxia currently manufactures NAND flash at its Yokkaichi operations in Mie Prefecture and its Kitakami site in Iwate Prefecture. The company has started contacting equipment manufacturers and other suppliers about procurement for the proposed facility and is expected to seek subsidies from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Kioxia has a long-standing partnership with Sandisk for the development and production of 3D NAND flash. A second manufacturing building is already operating at the Kitakami site, and the proposed facility would further expand the partners’ Japanese production capacity.

Kioxia ranks third in the global NAND flash market by revenue, behind Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Continued growth in AI data centers, enterprise storage and high-capacity SSDs is encouraging major memory manufacturers to prepare another round of long-term capacity investment.