NETANYA, Israel — Toshiba Corp. (Tokyo) and SanDisk Corp. (Milpitas, Calif.) have inaugurated their joint Fab 4, a wafer fabrication facility for 300-mm diameter wafers at Toshiba's Yokkaichi campus, in Mie Prefecture, Japan.

Toshiba started construction of the fab in August 2006, which is expected to start mass production in December 2007 and reach a production capacity of 80,000 wafers a month in the second half of 2008. Investment in Fab 4 over the two years from April 2006 to March 2008 is expected to reach about 300 billion yen (about $2.6 billion).

Toshiba and SanDisk claimed that the fab has room to expand to 210,000 wafers per month. At start-up Fab 4 will employ 56-nanometer process technology, and plans call for a gradual transition to 43-nm technology, starting from March 2008. "The building was constructed using the latest earthquake-absorbing structure," a statement said. This structure is designed to dampen earthquake forces by up to two-thirds, and deploys multiple power compensation systems that are triggered by any sudden loss of power supply, from a lightning strike, for example. Toshiba funded construction of the Fab 4 building, and Flash Alliance, Ltd., a joint venture established in July 2006 and 50.1 percent owned by Toshiba and 49.9 percent by SanDisk, is funding the manufacturing equipment now being installed in the fab.

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