01 Company Profile

Kioxia Holdings Corporation, commonly known as Kioxia, is a global leader in semiconductor memory manufacturing. Formerly Toshiba’s memory business unit, it was spun‑off as an independent entity in April 2017 and officially rebranded to Kioxia Corporation on October 1, 2019, with its headquarters located in Minato‑ku, Tokyo, Japan. With nearly 40 years of industry expertise, Kioxia focuses on the R&D, production and sales of NAND flash memory chips, 3D BiCS FLASH™, solid‑state drives (SSDs), embedded storage and automotive‑grade memory solutions. Its products are widely deployed across AI computing data centers, cloud computing, consumer electronics, automotive electronics, 5G communications, industrial automation, medical devices and many other digital‑industry scenarios.

Supported by its original core‑technology foundation and worldwide operational footprint, Kioxia has grown into a top‑tier global supplier of NAND flash memory, employing more than 15,000 staff members across the globe. It has built a complete network covering R&D, wafer fabrication, component packaging and worldwide technical sales support. Backed by proprietary technology barriers, highly‑reliable product quality and continuous process upgrades, Kioxia has become an indispensable core supplier within the global digital supply chain. Its memory solutions support massive‑data storage requirements generated by AI large‑language models, autonomous‑driving systems and the Internet of Things, granting the company substantial technological influence across the semiconductor‑memory sector.

02 Industry Position

Kioxia firmly ranks among the world’s top‑tier NAND flash‑memory vendors with a significant global market share and deep‑rooted technological advantages. It currently holds the world’s third‑largest share of the NAND‑flash market. Its proprietary BiCS FLASH™ 3D‑stacked flash‑memory architecture represents one of the two dominant global 3D NAND technology roadmaps, shaping the evolutionary direction of the whole industry. Kioxia’s enterprise‑grade AI SSDs, automotive embedded‑memory products and industrial wide‑temperature storage solutions are also globally competitive.

Compared with memory manufacturers based in South Korea, Europe and North America, Kioxia delivers five major competitive strengths: in‑house foundational‑technology development, a full‑spectrum product portfolio, high reliability for automotive and industrial applications, deep collaborative R&D partnerships and global manufacturing capacity. It is one of the very few vendors worldwide capable of delivering end‑to‑end solutions spanning NAND wafer design, process development and finished SSD products. Demand for Kioxia’s offerings has expanded rapidly in high‑growth segments such as AI servers, new‑energy smart vehicles and high‑end industrial equipment. Its high‑capacity, low‑power, highly‑stable memory products provide a solid storage foundation for global AI‑computing infrastructure, positioning Kioxia as a key pillar supporting technological innovation and supply‑chain stability in the memory‑semiconductor market.

03 History & Milestones

(1) Development Timeline

Kioxia’s origins trace back to the invention of flash‑memory technology. In 1980, Fujio Masuoka, an engineer working at Toshiba, first proposed the flash‑memory storage concept. In 1987, Toshiba successfully created the world’s first NAND flash‑memory chip, a non‑volatile memory device capable of retaining stored data without continuous power supply, which marked the beginning of the modern digital‑storage era. At the 2007 VLSI Symposium, Toshiba Memory unveiled the 3D flash‑memory concept and named its technology BiCS FLASH™, pioneering the transition of flash memory into the three‑dimensional stacking era. Mass production of the first‑generation 48‑layer BiCS FLASH™ solution began in 2015, enabling large‑scale commercial adoption of 3D NAND flash memory.

The Toshiba Memory Group was formally separated from Toshiba and established as an independent business in April 2017. In 2018, Toshiba sold its memory‑business division to an international consortium led by Bain Capital for approximately USD 18 billion, bringing global investment capital to fuel future growth. On October 1 2019, Toshiba Memory Corporation officially rebranded itself as Kioxia Corporation, opening a new chapter for the brand. In 2023, Kioxia opened two new R&D centers in Yokohama, Japan, strengthening its development capabilities for next‑generation memory technology. On December 18 2024, Kioxia Holdings was listed on the Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, marking its entry into global public capital markets.

(2) Major Events & Capital Activities

• In 2018, a consortium led by Bain Capital acquired roughly 60 % equity in Toshiba Memory in one of the largest leveraged‑buyout transactions in the global semiconductor‑industry’s recent history, laying the capital foundation for Kioxia’s independent growth.

• On December 18 2024, Kioxia Holdings was listed on the Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (stock ticker: 285A). The offering set a record‑breaking issuance size for Japan’s equity market that year and won the DealWatch Awards 2024 Equity IPO of the Year prize.

• On May 15 2025, Kioxia announced plans for a potential U.S. IPO. Further confirmation was given at the Annual General Meeting held on June 25 2026, targeting a Spring‑2027 launch of American Depositary Shares (ADS), with completion scheduled for the second quarter of the fiscal year ending June 2027. Its depositary receipts (ticker: KXIAY) are already traded on the U.S. over‑the‑counter market. A U.S. listing will broaden access to international institutional investors.

• On January 29 2026, Kioxia and SanDisk extended their joint‑venture manufacturing agreement for the Yokkaichi plant for an additional five years, until December 31 2034, securing long‑term stability for their collaborative production ecosystem.

04 Main Product Lines & Core Advantages

(1) Main Products

Kioxia’s comprehensive product portfolio covers the full value chain, ranging from raw flash‑memory dies to finished end‑user storage solutions. Its core offerings fall into the categories outlined below:

BiCS FLASH™ 3D Flash Memory: Kioxia’s flagship proprietary technology built upon the innovative Bit‑Cost‑Scalable vertical‑cell architecture. Ten generations of technological evolution have delivered stacking layers from the initial 48‑layer design all the way up to the latest 332‑layer iteration. The eighth‑generation, 218‑layer product launched in 2024 features the CMOS‑bonded‑to‑array (CBA) architecture, directly bonding peripheral circuits onto the memory array, delivering approximately 50 % higher bit density and an interface speed of 3,200 MT/s, representing world‑class performance.

Enterprise‑grade SSDs: PCIe/NVMe, SAS and SATA solid‑state drives engineered for data centers and AI servers, delivering high throughput, low latency and exceptional reliability. Enterprise SSD revenue reached USD 978 million in Q3‑2025, making this the company’s fastest‑growing business segment and a key building block for expanding AI‑computing clusters.

Client & Consumer SSDs: The EXCERIA series and other storage products supplied to PC OEMs and retail end‑users, covering the full performance spectrum from entry‑level drives up to flagship PCIe 5.0 solutions for high‑performance computing and everyday digital workloads.

Mobile‑device Storage: UFS and e‑MMC flash‑memory chips designed for smartphones and portable consumer hardware. Kioxia began sampling its UFS 5.0 flash‑memory solution in February 2026 to keep pace with rising high‑speed‑storage requirements for mobile hardware.

Industrial & Specialized‑use Storage: SLC NAND and XL‑FLASH memory chips built for high‑reliability environments including industrial‑control hardware, automotive electronics and surveillance systems.

Retail‑branded Products: Memory‑cards, USB flash‑drives and other consumer‑storage accessories for everyday personal‑data storage.

(2) Core Competitive Advantages

Foundational‑technology Leadership: As the original inventor of NAND flash‑memory in 1987 and the pioneer behind the 3D‑flash‑memory concept back in 2007, Kioxia received the Flash‑Memory Summit (FMS) Lifetime‑Achievement Award in 2024. Nearly four decades of continuous technology innovation have built formidable, hard‑to‑replicate technological barriers.

Manufacturing‑ecosystem Strength: Production operations are anchored at two major Japanese fabrication sites: the Yokkaichi and Kitakami factories, supported by a long‑term joint‑manufacturing partnership with SanDisk to share production capacity and R&D resources. The Yokkaichi complex ranks among the world’s largest and most‑efficient flash‑memory production campuses. The Kitakami Fab 2 facility, commissioned in September 2025, manufactures eighth‑generation, 218‑layer 3D‑flash memory on CBA‑based 300 mm wafers, with production infrastructure capable of supporting future ultra‑high‑stack flash‑memory generations.

End‑to‑end Product Portfolio: Kioxia supplies solutions covering raw NAND dies, enterprise‑class SSDs, client‑side SSDs, consumer‑grade SSDs, UFS chips and removable memory‑cards, delivering storage hardware for data centers, mobile‑electronics, personal‑computers, automotive and industrial‑market use‑cases, satisfying diversified customer storage requirements.

Strategic Positioning within the AI Boom: AI‑server deployments are driving exponential growth in demand for high‑capacity, high‑performance memory hardware. Kioxia enterprise SSDs and high‑density NAND chips are deeply integrated within AI‑data‑center supply‑chains. Its full‑year‑2026 production capacity has already been fully pre‑sold, strengthening its pricing power amid tight market supply and placing Kioxia among the top memory vendors positioned to capture strong revenue growth during the AI expansion cycle.

05 Key Customer Groups

Kioxia’s global customer‑base spans leading enterprises operating across every major memory‑application sector, with diversified revenue sources covering the primary market segments outlined below:

Data‑center & Cloud‑service Providers: Large‑scale hyperscalers and AI‑compute operators worldwide. Kioxia supplies both finished enterprise SSD products and raw enterprise‑grade NAND dies to cloud providers with in‑house SSD‑development capabilities, serving as a critical link within AI‑data‑center storage supply‑chains. Customer demand in this segment continues to surge as AI training and inference workloads scale rapidly.

Smartphone & Mobile‑device Manufacturers: Major global smartphone OEMs integrate Kioxia UFS and e‑MMC memory chips into flagship and mid‑range mobile handsets. The roll‑out of UFS 5.0 samples further strengthens Kioxia’s competitive foothold within the high‑end mobile‑hardware market, benefiting from the industry‑wide trend toward larger‑capacity, higher‑speed onboard smartphone‑storage.

PC & Consumer‑electronics OEMs: Leading global PC brands and consumer‑hardware manufacturers deploy Kioxia client‑SSD and retail‑storage hardware across the full product spectrum, ranging from thin‑and‑light notebooks to high‑end desktop workstations.

Automotive‑electronics & Industrial Clients: Vehicle manufacturers, Tier‑1 automotive component suppliers and industrial‑equipment OEMs select Kioxia automotive‑grade and industrial‑storage products for advanced driver‑assistance systems (ADAS), smart‑cockpit hardware, in‑vehicle video‑recorders and industrial‑control equipment. These customers demand long‑term product availability and stringent quality stability, creating strong, long‑lasting supplier‑customer relationships.

06 Global Footprint

Kioxia operates a multi‑layered global business strategy: deep‑rooted domestic‑Japanese R&D operations, geographically‑centralized wafer‑manufacturing and worldwide sales‑support networks, covering major economic regions across Asia, Europe and the Americas to build a responsive, market‑oriented global operating system.

Manufacturing Sites: Core wafer‑fabrication facilities are based at the Yokkaichi and Kitakami campuses in Japan, forming one of the world’s most‑important production hubs for 3D NAND flash‑memory. Packaging‑and‑test operations are distributed across multiple Asian locations. Joint‑venture partnerships help secure global production capacity while focusing wafer‑fab output on cutting‑edge flash‑memory process nodes.

R&D & Customer‑support Locations: A central research laboratory in Japan focuses on foundational flash‑memory‑process innovation. Additional R&D and technical‑support offices operate across the United States, China and Europe. Teams based in the Americas primarily serve North‑American cloud‑computing and AI‑data‑center customers, European‑region offices deliver solutions for automotive and industrial‑market clients, while the Asia‑Pacific branch supports consumer‑electronics, new‑energy‑vehicle and 5G‑IoT industries, delivering fast‑response local technical assistance.

This worldwide operational layout helps mitigate cyclical semiconductor‑market risks, delivers rapid local responses to regional‑customer development and delivery‑related requirements, and underpins stable, long‑term revenue growth across Kioxia’s global business.

07 Supply‑chain Services

Supported by its unique joint‑venture manufacturing ecosystem and worldwide service infrastructure, Kioxia delivers an efficient, stable and reliable suite of supply‑chain capabilities:

Capacity Assurance & Supply Stability: Its long‑term manufacturing partnership with SanDisk enables coordinated production‑capacity planning and risk‑sharing across both the Yokkaichi and Kitakami fabrication campuses. Full‑cycle wafer‑fabrication, packaging and testing workflows are maintained under in‑house and joint‑venture oversight to reduce operational risks from single‑site disruptions. Amid the AI‑driven memory‑supercycle, Kioxia’s complete 2026 annual‑production capacity has already been committed, while ongoing capacity‑expansion initiatives secure long‑term product availability for its customer base.

Capacity‑expansion Investment & Long‑term Supply Commitments: On August 27 2026, Kioxia and SanDisk announced plans to invest more than USD 31 billion (approximately 5 trillion Japanese Yen) to expand flash‑memory production capacity in Japan by the year 2032. The Kitakami Fab 3 facility alone represents around JPY 1.8 trillion of investment, with production launch targeted for fiscal‑year 2029. These large‑scale investments fulfill long‑term supply commitments to AI‑data‑center clients requiring high‑capacity, high‑performance flash‑memory hardware.

Global‑reach Service Network: Worldwide sales and technical‑support offices provide fast‑response, localized customer‑service. Within China, Kioxia Electronics (China) Co., Ltd. delivers deep‑level on‑site technical support and local business‑development activities.

Spot‑inventory Sourcing Services: Kioxia maintains a well‑established authorized global‑distributor ecosystem with long‑standing partnerships across the industry. As a value‑added authorized channel partner, SMCC (Shenzhen Smartchip Cloud Technology) provides customers with stable spot‑inventory access to Kioxia components, covering SLC‑NAND, 3D‑NAND flash‑dies and enterprise‑grade SSDs. Drawing upon deep‑sector experience and technical expertise, SMCC assists clients with component‑selection, provides alternative‑part recommendations and accelerates customers’ end‑product time‑to‑market, strengthening clients’ competitive positioning within their respective markets.

Compliance & Quality Assurance: Kioxia adheres to global cross‑border‑trade compliance regulations. Its products meet JEDEC industry‑standard specifications, while automotive‑grade and industrial‑storage product‑lines implement enhanced reliability‑control procedures to ensure full supply‑chain compliance and stable component quality.

08 Corporate Updates

(1) Market Outlook

Driven by the migration of AI workloads from training‑focused deployments to inference‑based operations, alongside rapid adoption of agent‑based AI and edge‑AI hardware, market demand for flash‑memory hardware remains robust. Enterprise‑grade SSD bit‑shipments now represent an ever‑growing share of total global NAND‑flash output. Counterpoint‑Research data indicates enterprise‑SSD shipments accounted for 48 % of worldwide NAND bit‑volume in Q2‑2026, while overall industry revenue grew five‑fold year‑on‑year. Kioxia’s management has confirmed that the company will continue prioritizing AI‑data‑center storage as its primary growth engine, accelerating production ramp‑ups for enterprise SSDs and high‑density NAND‑flash products. It will also leverage its upcoming 332‑layer 10th‑generation 3D‑flash‑memory and UFS 5.0 hardware to capture high‑end‑market opportunities. Its long‑term strategic objective is to consolidate its top‑tier global NAND‑flash‑market position through sustained capacity expansion and continuous technological upgrades.

(2) Production‑capacity Status

The Kitakami Fab 2 facility entered official operation on September 29 2025, initially manufacturing the eighth‑generation, 218‑layer CBA‑architecture 3D‑flash memory, built with manufacturing infrastructure that can support future higher‑stack flash‑memory generations, primarily serving high‑end AI‑data‑center requirements. In July 2026, Kioxia began sampling its 10th‑generation, 332‑layer 3D‑flash‑memory chip, with mass‑production launch scheduled for 2027 at the Kitakami Fab 2 plant, mainly targeting AI‑data‑center operators. On August 27 2026, Kioxia and SanDisk announced construction of a third fabrication building (Fab 3) on the Kitakami campus, planned to commence operations in fiscal‑year 2029 and manufacture next‑generation BiCS‑FLASH™ memory chips. The Kitakami production complex will evolve into a key manufacturing hub for high‑end NAND‑flash‑memory hardware serving data‑center workloads, while the Yokkaichi campus will focus primarily on flash‑memory components for smartphone and consumer‑electronics markets, forming a coordinated dual‑site capacity‑expansion roadmap.

(3) Product & Technology Developments

In February 2026, Kioxia announced it had begun distributing engineering samples of its new UFS 5.0 flash‑memory product, keeping pace with next‑generation high‑speed‑storage upgrades for mobile hardware. July 2026 marked the release of sampling units for the company’s 10th‑generation BiCS‑FLASH™ chip, ushering in the 332‑layer era of 3D‑stacked flash‑memory technology. By 2025, the BiCS‑FLASH™ product family had completed ten successive technical upgrades (evolving from the original 48‑layer architecture to today’s 332‑layer chip), and the technology was awarded the Flash‑Memory‑Summit Lifetime‑Achievement prize in 2024, reflecting Kioxia’s sustained leadership in flash‑memory innovation and production roadmaps.

(4) Significant Corporate‑level Events

• Japan’s Highest‑market‑capitalization Company: On June 12 2026, Kioxia Holdings’ market valuation surpassed JPY 44 trillion, overtaking Toyota Motor Corporation to become Japan’s most‑valuable publicly‑listed firm. Its market capitalization briefly exceeded JPY 50 trillion on June 16 2026, making Kioxia only the second Japanese‑listed company ever to reach that valuation milestone. From its December‑2024 IPO through June‑2026, Kioxia’s share‑price delivered peak growth of more than 12×, climbing rapidly from 169th place into the number‑one ranking among Japan’s largest‑cap public companies within roughly one year.

• Planned U.S. Public Listing: On May 15 2026, Kioxia revealed plans for a potential American‑Depositary‑Share offering. The proposal was formally reaffirmed at the June‑25 2026 Annual General Meeting, targeting a Spring‑2027 ADS launch, with completion anticipated in Q2 of the fiscal‑year ending June 2027. A dual‑Tokyo‑New‑York listing will grant Kioxia expanded access to global institutional investment capital.

• Executive‑leadership Transition: In June 2026, Hiroo Oota, previously Executive Vice‑President, was formally appointed President and Chief‑Executive‑Officer, succeeding Nobuo Hayasaka, who transitioned into a Senior‑Executive‑Advisor role. Yoshihiko Kawamura was simultaneously appointed as the new Chief‑Financial‑Officer. This senior‑management succession prepares the organization for accelerated expansion amid the global AI‑boom.

• Large‑scale Capacity‑expansion Investment: On August 27 2026, Kioxia and SanDisk announced a six‑year investment plan committing over USD 31 billion (≈ JPY 5 trillion) to flash‑memory capacity growth across Japan, including approximately JPY 1.8 trillion earmarked for the Kitakami Fab 3 project. Final investment levels will be determined partly by Japanese‑government financial support. Following discussions between Kioxia’s CEO Hiroo Oota and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takachi, the capacity‑expansion roadmap was formally confirmed, further cementing Kioxia’s vital role within the AI‑storage global supply‑chain.

• Passive‑fund Inflows & TOPIX Index‑weight Upgrade: According to a July‑2026 research report published by SMBC Nikko Securities, the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s regular October‑2026 TOPIX index review will raise Kioxia’s free‑float proportion from 15 % to 50 %. This revision will lift its TOPIX index weight to roughly 2.678 %, an adjustment expected to trigger approximately JPY 3 trillion (≈ USD 18.5 billion) of passive‑fund inflows, substantially increasing Kioxia’s appeal for institutional index‑tracking investment portfolios.

09 Kioxia (KIOXIA) at a Glance

As the original inventor and long‑standing global pioneer behind NAND‑flash‑memory technology since releasing the world’s first NAND chip in 1987, Kioxia has delivered ten generations of BiCS‑FLASH™ 3D‑stacked‑memory innovation, built deep‑rooted collaborative manufacturing ties with SanDisk, and assembled a comprehensive end‑to‑end memory‑product ecosystem. With well‑established market presence across data‑center, mobile‑device, PC, automotive and industrial‑storage sectors, Kioxia stands out as a strategically‑significant global‑memory supplier combining decades‑long technical heritage, secure manufacturing capacity and robust long‑term growth potential in the AI era.