The strong growth in applications for artificial intelligence led to a remarkable share price development this year for Japanese memory chip manufacturer Kioxia. The demand for data storage for AI training and data centers translates into high demand for NAND flash memory, one of the company’s core products.
Kioxia’s shares rose by approximately 540 percent in 2025. According to Bloomberg, this made the company the best-performing component in both the global MSCI World Index and the Japanese Topix index. Kioxia only made its stock market debut in Tokyo in December 2024 and now has a market value of approximately 5.7 trillion yen, equivalent to about $36 billion. The company’s customers include major technology companies active in cloud and AI services.
The price increase reflects broader developments in the technology sector, where large cloud providers and other so-called hyperscalers are investing heavily in AI infrastructure. Memory chips play an essential role in this, both in training AI models and in storing and processing large amounts of data. In the course of this year, several technology companies warned of a possible shortage of memory capacity, while market analysts are anticipating rising prices due to tight supply.
Position of NAND manufacturers remains strong
Investors anticipate that these market conditions could support the revenue and profitability of memory manufacturers. Companies higher up the supply chain, such as chip wafer manufacturers, could also benefit from continued strong demand for memory technology.
At the same time, the strong share price performance has raised questions about the valuation of the stock. These concerns also affected other AI-related companies. In November, Kioxia’s share price fell 23 percent in a single day after its quarterly results fell short of investor expectations.
Despite this correction, structural demand for memory remains greater than the available supply. Analysts point out that any short-term delays in data center investments are unlikely to have much effect on memory prices, as the market is still facing a shortage. In that light, Kioxia’s position in 2026 is expected to be largely determined by the further development of AI applications and the associated infrastructure.