Japan extends subsidies to downturn-hit Kioxia, Western Digital

TOKYO: Japan’s industry ministry said on Tuesday it would extend subsidies worth as much as 242.9 billion yen ($1.64 billion) for Bain Capital-backed Kioxia and Western Digital to expand memory chip production in Mie and Iwate prefectures.

The funding provides underpinning for the two companies, which have been hammered by a slump in the market for NAND flash chips and whose merger talks stalled late last year following opposition from Kioxia investor SK Hynix.

Japan’s powerful industry ministry aims to reclaim the country’s lost position as a major chip centre by extending subsidies to domestic and foreign chipmakers and secure chip supply amid trade tensions between China and the United States.