Japanese NAND flash giant Kioxia Holdings announced on May 15 that it is preparing to list American depositary shares on a US exchange, capitalizing on a global memory chip shortage triggered by AI infrastructure buildout. The company has not yet decided the timing, market or method, and regulatory approvals are still required. Kioxia is the world's best-performing major stock this year, up roughly 300% on the Tokyo exchange.
The company forecast operating profit of 1.3 trillion yen ($8.2 billion) for the quarter ending in June, far above analyst estimates. It posted record earnings of 596.8 billion yen for the March quarter, surpassing even Toyota Motor Corp to become one of Japan's most profitable businesses. Kioxia says its NAND technology runs 20-30% cheaper to produce than rivals and delivers 10-20% faster data speeds.
A US listing would broaden Kioxia's investor base as hyperscalers race to secure storage for AI training and inference workloads. One analyst quoted in coverage of the announcement warned, "The surging price of chips is just driving everything crazy now," cautioning that the cycle "can't go on forever."