Update, 8/11: Kioxia’s IPO has been postponed. The company is now targeting an IPO in December.
Reuters reports this based on two people involved in the actions. October was not achieved because, according to investors, the company’s intended valuation was incorrectly estimated. The company will now first test market interest, by making use of new rules that make such tests possible. The IPO on the Japanese stock exchange may, therefore, be postponed even further.
Original, 23/08: Kioxia will debut on the stock market in October. The Japanese chipmaker will trade shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Kioxia shares will be traded on the Japanese stock exchange starting in October, Bloomberg reports, based on Japanese news outlet Nikkei’s report on Kioxia’s IPO application.
It is reported that the chipmaker will be valued at more than 1.5 trillion yen. That amount is roughly worth 9.27 billion.
Stock market struggles with AI dreams
An IPO has been on Kioxia’s discussion table for some time. The chip maker is said to currently find the stock market climate favorable for making a debut. It is mainly anticipating global AI developments, which require new chips. Consequently, chip production is running at full speed.
However, investor interest in AI is simultaneously declining. This is because investors feel they have to wait too long for results, which, mainly in the chip industry, leads to large drops in the value of shares.
Also read: Tech stock market slumps: AI hype disappoints investors
Dependent on investors
The IPO is mainly encouraged by investor Bain Capital. Reuters wrote this in June when the exact date of the IPO was still being discussed. The investor hopes to rake in fresh capital with the IPO, which will allow it to recoup some of the costs of buying Toshiba’s memory division in 2018.
Plans for an IPO debut were reopened after another avenue for Kioxia was closed again. Late last year, for example, the chip maker was still negotiating a merger with Western Digital. Kioxia halted negotiations after investor SK Hynix opposed the plan.