Western Digital plans to invest about 500 billion yen ($4.68 billion) over the next three years in a memory-chip joint venture with Toshiba, following a six-month court battle between the two memory partners companies.

The venture will entail construction of a new building to house production lines at Toshiba's Yokkaichi plant in Mie Prefecture, along with investment at a Kitakami plant in Iwate Prefecture.

The joint operation between Toshiba Memory and Western Digital will increase production of 3D flash memory.

The flash memory production capacity of the Yokkaichi plant is larger than that of the main facility of rival Samsung Electronics, which holds the largest share of the flash memory market.