SanDisk’s $1.165B Flash Pact Runs Through 2034

On May 1, 2026, MarketWatch reported that flash maker SanDisk had posted fiscal Q3 revenue of $5.95 billion, up 251% year over year. Three months earlier, SanDisk agreed to pay Kioxia $1.165 billion to extend their manufacturing joint venture from 2029 to 2034. The revenue covered three months; the agreement secured five more years of factory access.

Key takeaways

Nikkei Asia reported on February 1, 2026, that SanDisk would pay Kioxia $1.165 billion to extend their joint-production agreement from 2029 through 2034.
SanDisk reported fiscal Q3 revenue of $5.95 billion on May 1, 2026, a 251% year-over-year increase.
OpenAI’s initial letters of intent with Samsung and SK hynix, reported October 1, 2025, referenced potential demand of up to 900,000 DRAM wafers per month.
Micron said its 2026 capital expenditures would exceed $25 billion.
SanDisk and SK hynix’s High Bandwidth Flash specification targets modules of up to 512GB and bandwidth ranging from 0.4TB to 3.0TB per second.

Only one supply record puts cash beside an end date

Across four public records reviewed here, only the SanDisk–Kioxia agreement discloses both a cash payment and a manufacturing end date. The comparison concerns the specificity of upstream memory-supply commitments, not interchangeable products: SanDisk and Kioxia manufacture NAND, while the OpenAI letters concern DRAM.

Bloomberg reported on October 1, 2025, that OpenAI had signed initial letters of intent with Samsung and SK hynix for the Stargate project. The suppliers said demand could reach 900,000 DRAM wafers per month; Bloomberg did not document firm deals at that volume. Samsung separately said it was considering multiyear memory-chip contracts to stabilize supply, while SK hynix said customers had proposed arrangements that included investing in dedicated production lines.

Public record	Disclosed commitment	Not disclosed in the cited record
SanDisk–Kioxia Nikkei Asia, February 1, 2026	$1.165 billion payment; end date moved from 2029 to 2034	Customer volume and revenue covered by multiyear engagements
Samsung statement	Considering multiyear memory contracts	Exact duration, volume and price
SK hynix statement	Customers proposed investing in dedicated production lines	Any signed term, committed volume or investment amount
OpenAI–Samsung–SK hynix Bloomberg, October 1, 2025	Initial letters of intent; suppliers said demand could reach 900,000 DRAM wafers per month	Firm allocation at that volume and commercial terms

OpenAI disclosed no firm allocation at 900,000 wafers per month. Samsung supplied no duration, volume or price, and SK hynix named no signed term or investment amount. Without those terms, buyers cannot tell how much supply is reserved, while manufacturers cannot tell how much demand is committed before they approve new capacity.

The $1.165 billion fixes the factory date

Nikkei Asia described the extension as five more years of SanDisk access to Kioxia’s Yokkaichi plant, through 2034. Under the disclosed terms, SanDisk commits $1.165 billion and Kioxia extends the joint-production agreement beyond its previous 2029 expiry.

The cited record does not quantify how much NAND output will serve SanDisk’s multiyear customers, nor how much revenue those engagements cover. The agreement preserves the shared manufacturing structure; SanDisk must establish customer coverage elsewhere.

Micron’s disclosures show the scale of the spending behind such decisions without providing a comparable supply-contract deadline. The company reported fiscal Q2 2026 revenue of $23.9 billion, up 196% year over year, and said its 2026 capital expenditures would exceed $25 billion.

The broader system explains the pressure to plan early. On April 24, 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. companies building AI data centers faced shortages of parts, property and power, while cooling-system lead times had become five times longer. In its PCIe 6.0 SSD announcement, Micron said its first mass-produced drives would read at up to 28GB per second—twice PCIe 5.0 speeds—and support both air and liquid cooling. SanDisk and SK hynix’s open High Bandwidth Flash specification targets modules with capacity of up to 512GB and bandwidth from 0.4TB to 3.0TB per second. Forbes reported on August 6, 2026, that DDN’s annual revenue was expected to rise from $300 million before the AI boom to $1 billion by year-end, fueled by AI partnerships. These records describe the surrounding infrastructure and storage market; they do not add terms to the SanDisk–Kioxia agreement.

SanDisk has not quantified the matching demand

In its fiscal Q3 report, SanDisk said it was moving toward a business model of multiyear customer engagements. The company has not quantified how much revenue or volume those engagements cover.

On August 6, 2026, MarketWatch reported that SanDisk had posted Q4 revenue of $8.97 billion but forecast Q1 revenue below estimates; its shares fell more than 5%. That forecast documents near-term uncertainty in the public record. It does not establish that SanDisk lacks demand visibility one quarter ahead.

SanDisk has disclosed enough to calculate its manufacturing agreement’s end date. It has not disclosed enough to calculate how much of that access is matched by customer commitments.

Frequently asked questions

How much NAND production capacity does SanDisk receive under the Kioxia extension?

The cited record provides no wafer, bit-output, or percentage-of-plant allocation. It establishes factory access through 2034, but not the quantity of NAND that access represents.

Does the $1.165 billion disclose a price per wafer or per unit of NAND?

No. The public terms cited identify the total payment and the extended end date, but not unit pricing, a volume commitment, or a payment schedule.

What happens to the SanDisk–Kioxia manufacturing arrangement after 2034?

The evidence only identifies 2034 as the new end date. It does not describe a renewal option, a post-2034 ownership change, or terms for another extension.

Is Kioxia’s Yokkaichi plant capacity disclosed in the agreement record?

No plant-capacity figure is provided in the cited SanDisk–Kioxia record. That leaves the scale of the factory access unquantified.

How the disclosed commitments unfolded

October 1, 2025 — Bloomberg reported that OpenAI had signed initial letters of intent with Samsung and SK hynix; suppliers said demand could reach 900,000 DRAM wafers per month.
February 1, 2026 — Nikkei Asia reported SanDisk’s $1.165 billion payment to extend its Kioxia joint-production agreement from 2029 to 2034.
May 1, 2026 — SanDisk reported fiscal Q3 revenue of $5.95 billion, up 251% year over year, and said it was moving toward multiyear customer engagements.
August 6, 2026 — MarketWatch reported SanDisk Q4 revenue of $8.97 billion and a Q1 revenue forecast below estimates.

The $5.95 billion opening number covered one fiscal quarter. The factory extension begins when the prior agreement would have ended in 2029, then runs five more years. SanDisk has committed $1.165 billion to manufacturing continuity through 2034 while leaving the customer volume matched to it undisclosed.