Status of the NAND Market after Earthquake

Published:2012/3/15 0:52:00 Author:Li xiao na From:SeekIC

Influenced by the Japanese earthquake, Toshiba lost six points of NAND market share in the second quarter of 2011. Three of those lost points had clawed back by the end of third quarter. The ratio taken by Toshiba reached 35% in the global NAND market. Its Yokkaichi facilities were far enough from the epicentre to avoid significant damage; what is more, the wafers in the supply chain were enough for Toshiba to sustain its factories while wafer suppliers worked to restore production levels.

Wafer suppliers had recovered the production within one month; meanwhile, the production at other sites also increased to minimise any storage issue to their major customers. Additionally, the supply/demand balance in the NAND market become better than before, and the disaster helped to shore up pricing and drive the industry to 10% growth in the third quarter.

Fab3 and Fab4, two NAND fabrication facilities of Toshiba, are located in Yokkaichi, Japan. The earthquake made them offline for a short time, which brought an immediate effect of NAND pricing in the market. In fact, the impact of earthquake was limited on the Yokkaichi fabs, so the selling prices of NAND become stable. One week after the earthquake, the Yokkaichi factory was operating normally again. The government also prioritized electricity, which helped the company greatly.

Shin-Etsu and Sumco, two of Toshiba’s wafer suppliers, also experienced damage to their equipment and facilities. Sumco started mass production in the second week of April; Shin-Etsu restarted production in mid to lat April. Fab5 was also opened by Toshiba in July 2011. The earthquake-absorbing technologies were used by Fab5.

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