Kioxia plans December IPO as Samsung widens lead
Bain Capital-backed Kioxia may use a new method for listing at the Tokyo Stock Exchange to speed up its IPO, which has been delayed in the past.
NAND flash memory maker Kioxia is planning its debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange between December 2024 and June 2025 as it tries to stay competitive and bridge the wide gap with memory leader Samsung Electronics.
The chipmaker is targeting December for its IPO, sources told Reuters.
Bain Capital-backed Kioxia may use a new method for listing at the Tokyo Stock Exchange to speed up its IPO, which has been delayed several times in the past. It first shelved an IPO back in October 2020.
A positive debut will give the Tokyo-based firm funds to increase capacity and take advantage of a recovery in chip prices.
Most recently, it was gearing up for an IPO in October, but that was eventually postponed.
While Bain Capital holds 56% shares of the company, Toshiba owns 41% and Hoya has 3%.
Merger talks with Western Digital Corp have also been in a flux.
Kioxia, previously Toshiba Memory, was sold by Toshiba to a consortium led by Bain Capital for USD 18 billion in 2018. More than 50% of its sales is from smartphone memory.
But the chipmaker has been hit by a downturn in the memory chips market, and there continues to be a question mark over whether prices can show a steady comeback.
Kioxia reported a 32% rise in operating profit to 166 billion yen in the July-September quarter compared to the previous quarter.
Kioxia is the world’s third-largest supplier of NAND flash memory. It ranked third in revenue in the second quarter of 2024 in the NAND Flash market, with a 13.8% market share, after Samsung (36.9%) and SK Group (22.1%), according to an earlier report by TrendForce.
