Memory chipmaker Kioxia, which has seen its share price surge on the back of the artificial intelligence investment wave, held a ceremony on Friday at its wafer fabrication plant in northern Japan to officially commence shipments of samples for its next-generation memory chips.
The vigorous expansion of the AI sector has enabled Kioxia to achieve a remarkable turnaround. The company was once considered a prime example of the struggles faced by Japan's chip manufacturing sector, but its stock has skyrocketed over 600% this year, with its market capitalization surpassing $250 billion, now exceeding that of Toyota Motor.
Recently, market debates have centered on the sustainability of AI-related capital expenditures and the impact of major chipmakers' capacity expansions on the industry, leading to significant volatility in Kioxia's share price.
Kioxia's wafer plant in Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, north of Tokyo, is mass-producing the tenth generation of BiCS 3D flash memory, a technology jointly developed by Kioxia and the California-based company SanDisk.
Kioxia CEO Hiroshi Ota stated, "We will expand the capacity of our second fabrication plant, which is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, to fully meet the growing market demand."
SanDisk Chief Technology Officer Alper Ilkbahar noted that this factory is a landmark project for U.S.-Japan technological collaboration.
Iwai Cosmo Securities analyst Kazuyoshi Saito indicated that, leveraging core technological advantages such as wafer bonding, Kioxia holds a lead of two to four years over its competitors in terms of NAND flash memory performance and power efficiency.
The memory chip manufacturer stated that it is considering a stock split and plans to list American Depositary Shares on a U.S. stock exchange at the beginning of the next fiscal year starting in April 2027.
Comments