Toshiba and SanDisk cut flash chip output by 30 percent

Toshiba and SanDisk have announced that they will be cutting flash memory production by a steep 30 percent. The reduction will be effective beginning January 2009, and will affect the Yokkaichi Operations Plant in Mie Prefecture, Japan, where SanDisk operates the manufacturing lines jointly with Toshiba. In a statement, Toshiba explained that the ongoing recession in the global economy and the slow down in consumer spending has had a "significant impact" on demand for semiconductors, resulting in this decision.

In the meantime, the joint-venture manufacturing facilities will see assembly at two of the production lines temporarily halted for about two weeks. Ultimately, the lowered manufacturing output will mean that chips will cost more, though SanDisk says that this move will "better align SanDisk's captive output in 2009 with the projected demand." It is not known whether this reduction in capacity will have any effects on the shipment of SanDisk's new, high-performance SSDs.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at CNETNews.com
- check out this advisory at MarketWatch

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