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Japanese chipmaker Kioxia Holdings has filed for a Tokyo Stock Exchange listing on Friday (August 23), targeting an October IPO. The company, which aims to capitalize on the booming demand for semiconductors in the AI sector, is expected to achieve a market capitalization exceeding 1.5 trillion yen ($10.3 billion), potentially making it the largest IPO on the exchange this year.

Kioxia's Kitakami plant in northeastern Japan

Kioxia, the world’s third-largest NAND flash memory manufacturer, was spun off from Toshiba in 2018 and rebranded in 2019. It is currently 56% owned by a special-purpose entity formed by Bain Capital and South Korea’s SK Hynix, with Toshiba holding a 41% stake. Both Bain and Toshiba plan to gradually reduce their holdings post-listing.

Kioxia's valuation could surpass that of Kokusai Electric’s 420 billion yen IPO in 2023 and Tokyo Metro's upcoming listing, expected to be valued between 640 billion to 700 billion yen. If successful, this IPO would be the largest since SoftBank’s telecom arm went public in 2018 with a market cap of 7.18 trillion yen.

Kioxia had initially planned to list in 2020 but postponed due to U.S.-China trade tensions. The company’s financial outlook has since improved, with a record net profit of 69.8 billion yen in the April-June quarter, driven by stabilizing demand for smartphones and PCs.

Amid rising demand for AI data centers and increased competition for investment, Kioxia is seeking to diversify its financing, previously reliant on borrowing. The company had also explored a potential merger with Western Digital’s memory business to compete with market leader Samsung, but negotiations ended last October due to concerns over antitrust approval in China.

Editor：Lulu

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