Storage manufacturer Western Digital has discovered that errors have occurred in two of its factories, resulting in the loss of an enormous amount of flash memory, including used in SSDs.
The company does not provide many technical details, but Western Digital speaks of contamination of certain materials in its factories in Yokkaichi and Kitakami. Both Japanese sites are operated in a joint venture with Kioxia, the former Toshiba.
WD says it is still working closely with Kioxia to keep the factories running as smoothly as possible. However, because it concerns the factories mentioned above, The Verge knows that it concerns CiCS 3D NAND flash memory.
Together, the two companies account for about 30 percent of the NAND flash memory market. Market analyst TrendForce expects the incident could cause flash memory prices to rise by five to ten percent soon.