Kioxia Group has established fair personnel systems to enable our diverse employees to fully display their individual abilities, and we focus on talent development and utilization.
Foundation for Value Creation
Our foundation of value creation is an important driving force behind the Group's ability to continually provide value to society. This domain is made up of three elements: Human resources, Technology, and Partnerships.
Human Resources
Our human resources represent important capital that helps us meet the expanding and increasingly sophisticated and wide-ranging needs of the market in a timely way. We recruit and train high-caliber graduates and experienced people to work with advanced technologies, and are implementing processes that will enable diverse employees to make full use of their capabilities.
Recruitment Initiatives
We focus on recruiting diverse human resources capable of working on an expanding range of memory and SSD product applications and other increasingly sophisticated technologies, to help us meet the growing demand for these.
Number*1 of New Graduate Recruits*2 in Administrative and Technical Positions (Kioxia Corporation)
* Table can be scrolled horizontally.
|
FY2019 |
FY2020 |
FY2021 |
FY2022 |
FY2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
280 |
207 |
298 |
303 |
379 |
- Undergraduate and postgraduate degrees
- As of April 1 each fiscal year
Recruiting Talent with Diverse Expertise
Kioxia Group recruits talented individuals with high levels of expertise and helps people make full use of their capabilities through measures such as increased mid-career recruitment and deploying human resource processes and systems that develop talent.
Number of Mid-Career Recruits (Kioxia Corporation)
|
FY2019 |
FY2020 |
FY2021 |
FY2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
113 |
275 |
280 |
282 |
Kioxia Group promotes diversity to enable our employees with a diverse range of personalities to each fully display their individual abilities.
Technology
We will steadfastly maintain our leadership position in the field of semiconductor memory technology, undertaking research and technology development.
Basic Approach to Research and Technology Development
As a technology leader in the field of memory, Kioxia Group is engaged in cutting-edge research and development, aiming to continuously expand its business portfolio.
Strengthening Research and Technology Development
Kioxia Group has been strengthening its research and development capabilities with the aim of creating memory technology that provides new value to society. In June 2023, Kioxia Corporation commenced the operation of two new R&D facilities — the Flagship Building at the Yokohama Technology Campus and the Shin-Koyasu Technology Front. Other Kioxia R&D functions in Kanagawa prefecture have been relocated to these new R&D hubs to improve the efficiency of our research and development, as well as to promote further advancement in technological innovation by stimulating collaboration across our various departments.
The addition of the new Flagship Building has allowed Kioxia to expand its capabilities in evaluating products, thereby enhancing overall product development and product quality.
The Shin-Koyasu Technology Front features a state-of-the-art clean room and cutting-edge research in a wide range of semiconductor areas, including new materials, processes and devices, is conducted there.
Kioxia Group will continue to strengthen its research and development capabilities in flash memory and SSDs. We are also committed to creating innovative technologies and products that go beyond existing memory functionality.
Total floor area: Approx. 40,000 ㎡
Height: 6 stories
Start of operation: June 2023
Total floor area: Approx. 13,000 ㎡
Height: 4 stories
Start of operation: June 2023
Collaboration with R&D Partners
To conduct timely, cutting-edge research and development in diverse fields in a rapidly changing and competitive environment, it is necessary to have access to the latest know-how in a number of fields at all times. Through relationships with R&D partners in Japan and overseas (technology organizations, universities and research institutes), Kioxia Group is able to leverage a wide range of knowledge and ideas and use these to further evolve its products and technologies.
Moreover, in addition to collaborating with partners in research and development, Kioxia Group actively engages in personnel exchange through open innovation.
In Japan, our operations are structured around the following three frameworks:
- Research grants: these support research at academic institutions in a wide range of fields, including semiconductors
- Joint research: addressing business issues through a deep understanding of technology
- Comprehensive collaboration: in addition to conducting research, the objective is to develop the next generation of researchers
Overseas, the Group is also forging links with a number of universities and research institutes.
Main Achievements in FY2022
In Japan, in the area of research grants we solicited proposals for research projects in fields such as information processing; AI-related technologies; big data; applications; security; semiconductor circuit design; devices; manufacturing and process simulation technologies; and carbon-neutral environmental technologies, for use in semiconductor manufacturing. We selected 21 projects and implemented these.
In the category of joint research, we continue to conduct this in conjunction with academic institutions in Japan. We are also continuing to undertake a number of collaborative activities involving research and personnel exchange with the University of Electro-Communications and Waseda Research Institute for Science & Engineering. In addition, we have signed a new joint research agreement with Nagoya University to strengthen collaboration in the field of mobility and smart factories and to activate the exchange of human resources.
Overseas, we continue to conduct joint research with Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab in the United States, among other institutions.
Research and Technology Development Achievements
While constantly working to develop cutting-edge technologies, Kioxia Group has also been highly commended for presenting its R&D findings through a variety of channels, including major academic societies and research papers.
Main Achievements in FY2022
At the European Conference on Solid-State Circuits 2022, Kioxia Corporation announced the development of a false-lock-aware locking technique to avoid misidentification of the lock position of the clock signal, which is used as a reference for the timing of circuit operations. The technology was developed to meet the rising demand for PAM4 high-speed communications used in data centers and similar applications. It was based on the outcome of a research project commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).
Initiatives for Creating Intellectual Property
Kioxia Corporation has been named as one of the Clarivate Top 100 Global Innovators 2023, a recognition given to the most innovative global companies by Clarivate Plc. This is the second time Kioxia has received this prestigious award in recognition of its accomplishments in the field of intellectual property.
As a global leader in flash memory and SSD technologies, Kioxia Group is committed to cutting-edge research and development. As of December 2022, we held over 12,000 registered patents worldwide. Kioxia Group protects and utilizes its own intellectual property rights, while respecting the legitimate intellectual property rights of third parties.
The Group will continue to protect and utilize its own intellectual property rights and proactively implement initiatives to strengthen the competitiveness of its business.
Partnerships
We will build strong relationships with our customers and other partners, with the aim of growing together sustainably.
Co-Creation with Partners
Kioxia Group builds partnerships with customers, research institutes and suppliers to create products and services that anticipate the needs of society. We collaborate and generate synergy with these partners, aiming to create value for society.
Customers
Kioxia Group has built global sales capabilities, technical support networks, and supply chain processes to anticipate the needs of our customers, who are providing new value to society around the world, and to respond to any of their issues swiftly.
R&D partners
Kioxia Group leverages a wide range of cutting-edge knowledge and ideas and collaborates with R&D partners in Japan and overseas with the aim of further evolving our products and services; the partners include technology organizations, universities and research institutes.
Suppliers
Kioxia Group will provide a steady supply of high-quality products through co-creation with suppliers and extend its competitive advantages by generating new manufacturing technologies and other innovations.
Main Achievements in FY2022
Customers
In FY2022, we continued to engage on a regular basis with our customers via quarterly business reviews and other means. Listening to customers’ views and understanding their requirements helps us to establish how we can partner with them more effectively to support their business expansion. It also highlights for us how we can improve our products and services and enhance the sustainability of customers’ own supply chains.
R&D Partners
Suppliers
Energy-Saving Processing Technology for Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing by Nano-Imprint Technology (NIL)
Kioxia Group is collaborating with partners to develop new technology that will achieve energy savings and increase productivity in the semiconductor manufacturing sector.
In May 2022, the energy-saving processing technology for advanced semiconductor manufacturing using nano-imprint lithography (NIL), which was jointly developed by Canon Inc., Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. and Kioxia Corporation, was awarded the Prize for Excellence at the 49th Environmental Awards sponsored by the National Institute for Environmental Studies and the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun and supported by the Ministry of the Environment.
Mutual Understanding with Suppliers
Kioxia Group provides its suppliers with opportunities to understand the Group’s business strategies and to foster mutual understanding with the aim of growing together. For example, we regularly exchange opinions with equipment manufacturers on achieving energy savings and increasing productivity.
