The two companies will build a new assembly line at Toshiba's Yokkaichi Plant in central Japan to begin production of NAND flash memory chips by March

NAND flash memory is the storage memory of choice in diverse mobile products, including digital still cameras and multimedia mobile phones, according to a statement issued by the companies.

"The total investment in the new facility at Toshiba's Yokkaichi operations is currently estimated at 200 billion yen (1.8 billion dollars)," they said in the statement.

The move is aimed at bringing forward their mass production of the memory chips at the new facility by one year from the original production launch of March 2007.

Their joint venture, Flash Vision, will be in charge of the operation, Toshiba and SanDisk said, adding that initial output is estimated at 10,000 wafers a month.

"Demand for NAND flash memory is growing fast on healthy demand for digital consumer devices," said Shigeo Koguchi, chief of Toshiba's chip businesses.

"We expect the market to double ... from 2003 to 2006."

The investment plan came on top of Toshiba's announcement last month that it would raise its investment in semiconductors by 10 percent to 130 billion yen in the year to March 2004.

SPACE.WIRE