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Memory

Kioxia Expects Flat Sales After a 40 Percent Jump

Japan’s flash-memory maker, whose July–September revenue rose 40 percent from the previous quarter, to 2.48 trillion yen, expects about the same this quarter and declared its first dividend.

TOKYO, Oct. 30 — Kioxia, the Japanese maker of flash memory, said on Friday that its revenue rose 40 percent in the July–September quarter from the April–June quarter, to 2,480.0 billion yen, and that it expects the October–December quarter to be about the same. It also declared its first dividend.

Kioxia forecast revenue of 2,500.0 billion yen for the three months to December, 0.8 percent more than in the summer quarter, and operating profit of 1,995.0 billion yen, against 1,994.7 billion.

“While demand for data centers is expected to remain strong, factors such as the negative impact of exchange rates are expected to lead to revenue and profit for the third quarter being broadly in line with that of the second quarter,” the company said in its results. Kioxia gives no plan for its full fiscal year, which ends in March, because its industry is “highly volatile over short periods,” it says.

The summer’s jump came “primarily” from “a significant increase in average selling prices (ASPs) resulting from strong demand from data center customers focusing on generative AI, as well as an increase in bit shipment,” Kioxia said. Operating profit was 1,994.7 billion yen, or about 80 percent of revenue, by our arithmetic. For the six months to September, revenue came to 4,247.2 billion yen, more than five times the 791.1 billion of a year earlier.

The results release gave no forecast for selling prices. Kioxia expects data-center demand “to remain strong,” and the one factor it named for a flat quarter is exchange rates. Its forecast assumes an average of 157 yen to the dollar, against 161 yen in the summer quarter, so each dollar converts into fewer yen. At those two rates, by our arithmetic, the summer quarter’s revenue comes to about $15.4 billion and the forecast to about $15.9 billion, some 3 percent more.

In flash memory as a whole, Kioxia wrote, “while demand from smartphone and PC customers is seeing a downward trend, demand for AI servers at data centers and enterprise customers is increasing, and the overall market is continuing to grow.” Intel, for its part, wrote in its quarterly report, filed with the S.E.C. on Thursday evening, that demand for its PC chips declined in the third quarter, compared with the first half of the year, partly because of higher component prices, “particularly memory.”

Kioxia’s board declared a dividend of 90 yen a share, 47,937 million yen in all, its first, with payments to begin on Dec. 8; in July it had forecast none.The SplitKioxia split each share into three on Oct. 1. The 90 yen is counted before the split, so it equals 30 yen for each of the three shares that replaced one, by our arithmetic. Its basic policy from now on, Kioxia said, is to “maintain a net cash position and flexibly acquire treasury shares and deliver progressive dividends,” after setting money aside for capital spending, research, its work force and acquisitions. “Over the medium- to long-term 100% of excess funds will be allocated to shareholder returns,” it said.

It has the cash. Kioxia ended September with 1,397.3 billion yen of cash and cash equivalents, against 603.9 billion yen of bonds and borrowings, by our sum. In the six months it spent 800.3 billion yen buying back its own shares, a purchase it made in August, and repaid 523.1 billion yen of long-term borrowings, mostly early.

Kioxia’s shares fell 7.14 percent in Tokyo on Friday, to 13,470 yen, before the results, which the company had scheduled for 6:45 p.m., after the market’s close. Monday, Nov. 2, is the first session to trade on them. Sandisk, Kioxia’s manufacturing partner, closed Friday in New York at $1,150.89, down 13.47 percent on the day and 33.85 percent for October.The PartnerKioxia records its sales to Sandisk through three manufacturing joint ventures and counts them as “Other” revenue, along with retail products such as memory cards and USB drives. “Other” came to 75.2 billion yen last quarter. Kioxia is scheduled to file its semi-annual securities report on Nov. 6.

Sources

  1. Kioxia Holdings, “Consolidated Financial Results for the Six Months Ended September 30, 2026 (Under IFRS), English reference translation,” Oct. 30, 2026.
  2. Kioxia Holdings, “Notice Regarding Shareholder Return Policy and Dividends of Surplus (Interim Dividends and First Dividends),” Oct. 30, 2026.
  3. Kioxia Holdings, “IR News: Second quarter of FY2026 financial results, scheduled on Oct. 30, 2026 at 18:45 (JST),” Sept. 30, 2026.
  4. Intel (SEC Form 10-Q), “Quarterly report for the period ended Sept. 26, 2026,” Oct. 30, 2026.
  5. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), “Intel Corp., Form 10-Q filing index (accepted Oct. 29, 2026, 6:50 p.m. ET; filing date Oct. 30, 2026),” Oct. 30, 2026.
  6. Japan Exchange Group, “Trading Hours, Tokyo Stock Exchange,” Oct. 31, 2026.
  7. Japan Exchange Group, “Market Holidays 2026,” Oct. 31, 2026.
  8. Yahoo Finance (chart data), “Kioxia (285A.T) daily closes, Oct. 28–30, 2026,” Oct. 30, 2026.
  9. Nasdaq, “Sandisk (SNDK) daily historical closes, Sept. 29–Oct. 30, 2026,” Oct. 30, 2026.