Shares in Japanese chipmaker Kioxia Holdings Corp closed 10 percent higher in Tokyo yesterday after an initial public offering (IPO) that valued the firm at more than US$5 billion.
Formerly the semiconductor unit of Japanese engineering giant Toshiba Corp, the firm is the world’s third-largest producer of NAND flash memory chips.
It was acquired by US investment firm Bain Capital & Co in 2018.
Photo: AFP
Memory chips are used in everyday devices such as smartphones and storage drives, as well as in industrial and medical equipment, but their prices are notoriously volatile.
Global demand for the chips has been driven by the growth of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology, such as that used in OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Kioxia had been expected to go public in October, emboldened by soaring demand for AI, but a rout in tech shares forced the company to delay until this month.
The firm set its listing price at ￥1,455 per share, valuing it at ￥784 billion (US$5.1 billion) and raising about ￥120 billion — making it Japan’s second-biggest IPO this year.
Its shares closed 10 percent higher at ￥1,601.
The company previously said it planned to issue about 21.5 million new shares, in addition to more than 63 million to be sold at home and abroad by existing shareholders Bain Capital and Toshiba.
Kioxia is among several Japanese semiconductor producers that the Japanese government is subsidizing as it seeks to triple the sales of domestically produced chips to more than ￥15 trillion by 2030.
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