Quality Control

Kioxia Corporation aims to benefit society by providing high-quality, safe, and functionally advanced products and services that meet customer expectations, while complying with all relevant laws and regulations.

Kioxia Corporation has set out our fundamental approach to quality control within our Quality Control Policy.

1. We engage in quality assurance from our customers' point of view.
2. We observe relevant laws and contracts and respect the rights of customers and third parties.
3. We deploy quality control systems aimed at achieving 100% quality.
4. We ensure that all of our departments and employees follow our quality control policies.
5. We aim for constant improvement by investigating the root causes of process failures and conduct through risk analysis in order to prevent any re-occurrence.
6. We collect, analyze and appropriately disclose information with the aim of preventing quality issues.

1. We observe both Japanese and overseas laws and regulations governing product safety and product security.
2. We collect, and proactively disclose, a wide range of information about any product issues that arise.
3. We immediately report any product issues to the authorities concerned in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
4. We promptly inform customers when the need to recall and repair products arises.
5. We educate our customers and provide alerts and warnings in order to help them use our products in a safe manner.
6. If an accident should occur, we carry out a thorough analysis of the causes and take necessary measures to prevent it from recurring. We also strive to prevent accidents by predicting risk at the design stage.
7. We strive to eliminate vulnerabilities from products prior to shipment.
8. We collect a wide range of information on product vulnerabilities in order to reduce risk.
9. We implement product security measures on a broad scale in cooperation with the relevant organizations.

Kioxia Corporation has established a quality management system throughout its entire product process from planning and development to sales and customer service. Chaired by our President and CEO, who is also the Chief Quality Executive Officer, Quality Assurance Meeting is held twice a year during which the Executive Officer in charge of quality, vice presidents of relevant departments, technology executives, general managers, and senior managers discuss and decide on key quality policy issues. The participants also evaluate the appropriateness and validity of quality management and risk containment measures. We communicate decisions made during these meetings to business divisions and ensure that these are actioned.

Information on issues involving our products in the market is collated by the President and CEO of Kioxia Corporation, who is also the Chief Quality Executive Officer, or the Executive Officer in charge of Quality, through what we call the CPL¹ Incident Response Desk. Any issues are referred to our Quality & Safety Risk Committee who will decide on any action that may be required.

No serious quality incidents occurred in FY2022.

Kioxia Group manufacturing sites and related facilities have obtained ISO9001 certification, the international standard for quality management systems. We are implementing continuous improvements throughout the Group in accordance with the seven QMS principles on which ISO9001 is based in order to enhance the effectiveness of these systems. Kioxia Corporation has also acquired IATF16949 certification, the international standard for quality management systems specific to the automotive industry.

In order to improve product quality at the design stage, Kioxia Corporation conducts product design reviews and quality reliability assessments by means of certification testing. We also conduct what we call Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) on our design activities in order to prevent defects from reaching upstream. The aim of this activity is to enhance quality by anticipating the risks and effects of failures or defects, known as failure modes, targeting product design and processes in the early stages of development. We strive to improve the reliability and safety of our products and services by implementing practical training to broaden the base of FMEA activities.

Furthermore, at Kioxia Corporation, FMEA is used to identify the risk of quality issues and determine those which need to be managed as a priority; the capacity of each manufacturing process is analyzed and improvements are implemented on areas found to have low process capabilities. A method known as Statistical Process Control is deployed during efforts to stabilize or improve manufacturing quality.

Kioxia Corporation discloses information regarding product quality on its website.

• Quality Guidelines
• Reliability Handbook
• Handling Precautions and Requests
• List of Abbreviations

• Customer Support

Kioxia Corporation has created its own in-house curriculum and conducts education and training for engineers in order to improve our design and manufacturing quality. Basic training is conducted throughout the year, including an introduction to quality assurance, contract liability and product liability (including the Product Liability Act), statistical quality control, and quality management systems, along with special training on topics such as QC7 tools,² FMEA/DRBFM,³ failure studies, and why-why analysis.