Kioxia will demonstrate its flash memory and SSD technologies for AI infrastructure at FMS 2026 in Santa Clara, California, from 4–6 August. The company will showcase its GP1 Series PCIe 6.0 SSDs, optimised for GPU direct access, alongside recently announced CM10 Series enterprise SSDs and NX1 Series SSDs, both supporting direct liquid cooling. The CM10 Series represents the first enterprise drives built with BiCS FLASH generation 10 memory. Demonstrations will include SSDs delivering 10 million IOPS in 512-byte random read performance and 245.76 TB storage capacity using QLC technology. Kioxia will present a keynote on redefining data centre storage for AI, participate in an NVIDIA session on balancing memory and storage, and host exhibits across ten locations at booth 307.

Japanese memory chipmaker Kioxia forecast fiscal first-half operating income of 3.2 trillion yen ($19.4 billion), implying about 1.9 trillion yen ($11.6 billion) for the current quarter. This follows June-quarter operating income of 1.3 trillion yen ($7.8 billion) that missed analyst estimates. The company announced a 3-for-1 stock split and a buyback of up to 800 billion yen ($4.91 billion). The softer outlook suggests the AI-driven flash memory upcycle may be moderating. TrendForce said NAND contract prices are projected to rise 10%-15% quarter on quarter in the third quarter, but more slowly than in earlier quarters as buyer resistance grows. Competition may increase as Samsung targets mass production of its V10 NAND in the second half of 2026.

Kioxia's outlook miss clouds optimism about memory chip boom. Kioxia Holdings on Friday forecast operating income of ¥3.16 trillion ($19.7 billion) for its fiscal half-year, which translates into a weaker-than-anticipated ¥1.89 trillion projection for the current quarter. SHARE/SAVE Jul 31, 2026 Kioxia Holdings issued a disappointing earnings outlook after results missed expectations, a sign that an unprecedented AI-driven surge in flash memory prices may be moderating. The Japanese chip leader on Friday forecast operating income of ¥3.16 trillion ($19.7 billion) for its fiscal half-year, which translates into a weaker-than-anticipated ¥1.89 trillion projection for the current quarter. That's after it posted June-quarter operating income of ¥1.27 trillion, missing analysts' estimates. The company also announced a 3-for-1 stock split and a buyback of up to ¥800 billion, taking action to broaden its shareholder base and reduce volatility. Investors had high hopes for Kioxia, one of the prime beneficiaries of a historic AI data center buildout. The former Toshiba unit supplies the NAND storage chips that go into data center servers, tracking ballooning spending by big tech firms including Meta Platforms. But its underwhelming guidance added to concern raised earlier on Friday by Murata Manufacturing President Norio Nakajima, who said that the current pace of spending by the world's largest data center operators won't last because of increasing competition and debt levels. Murata pointed to potential revisions in spending plans and Kioxia, for its part, is proceeding cautiously too: The company has said it plans to increase capacity only slightly faster than industry growth, to avoid flooding the market. Kioxia's approach risks market-share losses to larger and deeper-pocketed rivals. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are expected to introduce next-generation NAND chips next year. Kioxia's challenge is to catch up with its South Korean rivals in production volume. Kioxia shares have gone through wild fluctuations. At one point this year, it overtook Toyota Motor and SoftBank Group to briefly become Japan's most valuable company. Then a steep slide erased two-thirds of those gains in just a month, as investors grew concerned about the fragility of AI spending and Kioxia's outlook. "While the size of the share buyback is exceptionally large for a Japanese company, it is unclear whether it will be enough to offset the earnings miss," said Tomoichiro Kubota, chief market analyst at Matsui Securities. The company has to work harder to attract the so-called U.S. hyperscalers, which have stronger ties with South Korean suppliers, said Akira Minamikawa, an analyst at Omdia. Those data center operators now seek multiyear supply contracts, giving component suppliers greater visibility into demand. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.