Western Digital/Kioxia
Big NAND Losses due to Contamination
Western Digital and Kioxia lost 23 to 24 % of their total 1Q22 NAND bit output, estimates Omdia. Industry-wide, this accounts for about 8 to 9 % of total NAND bit output.
Western Digital (WD) and Kioxia have announced disruption at their joint venture Yokkaichi and Kitakami flash fabrication facilities due to contamination of certain material used in the manufacturing process.
»WD quantified the impact on flash availability at 6.5 exabytes (EBs). Although Kioxia did not quantify, we are led to believe the 6.5 EBs is just WD's loss, meaning Kioxia's loss could be roughly the same if not more as they have majority share of the bit output from the fabs«, says Craig Stice, Chief Analyst, Semiconductors, Omdia.
»The impact to the end markets is difficult to quantify at this point«, he says. »Inventory levels (both at the manufacturers and in the end markets) will be key to help absorb any of the factory loss. The NAND market has been in slight oversupply, and prices have been in decline, which would suggest that there is inventory. However, now accounting for the loss, supply and demand could return to relative balance for the rest of the quarter. Mobile market storage inventory has been believed to be healthy.«
