Tokyo, Feb 12, 2026, 20:22 JST — Market closed
- Kioxia (285A) closed up 12.4% at 21,175 yen after flagging a sharp rise in March-quarter revenue and profit
- The company pointed to data-center demand lifting selling prices across applications
- Focus shifts to follow-through in Friday’s session and whether memory peers echo the pricing tone
Kioxia Holdings Corp (285A.T) shares jumped 12.4% to 21,175 yen on Thursday after the flash-memory maker projected a sharp jump in revenue and profit for the March quarter. The stock ranged between 19,500 yen and 21,175 yen on the day and traded about 36 million shares, ending just below its recent high. (Investing)
The move matters because Kioxia sits in one of the market’s most cyclical trades. In memory chips, a modest move in pricing can flip earnings — quickly, and not always in the direction investors expect.
Kioxia’s tone on selling prices landed at a time when traders have been hunting for signs the memory cycle is turning again, helped by demand tied to AI servers. NAND flash is the storage chip used in phones and solid-state drives; it’s a crowded market and it tends to swing.
Kioxia said revenue for the October-December quarter rose to 543.6 billion yen, with SSD & Storage at 300.4 billion yen and Smart Devices at 186.3 billion, helped by higher average selling prices (ASPs) — the average price per chip — and higher shipments. Adjusted, or non-GAAP, operating profit came in at 144.7 billion yen; for the nine months to Dec. 31, profit attributable fell to 146.8 billion yen from 252.1 billion a year earlier. For the January-March quarter, it forecast revenue of 845 billion to 935 billion yen and operating profit of 436 billion to 526 billion yen, saying “selling prices across all applications” should rise on strong data-center demand; it also flagged about 12 billion yen of property taxes and about 3 billion yen of revenue tied to a Sandisk joint-venture extension. (Eir Parts)
Other memory names caught a bid too. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix gained 6.4% and 3.3% in Seoul, while Micron Technology rose 9.9% in U.S. trade on Wednesday, Investing.com reported. “With cleanroom space in short supply, adding new equipment is going to be tough,” said MS Hwang, research director at Counterpoint, while Mizuho’s Joseph Wrenn said he was “still very positive on the NAND market.” (Investing)
Kioxia listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market on Dec. 18, 2024. (Kioxia Holdings)
Kioxia gives guidance as a range rather than a single number, leaning on the argument that memory markets can change inside a quarter. That wording matters, because traders tend to treat the top and bottom ends as a map for where pricing could really land.
But the same cycle that lifts profits can turn against them. A sudden dip in smartphone or PC orders, a fresh burst of supply, or a currency move can squeeze margins and make quarter-ahead guidance feel stale fast.
The next test comes at Friday’s Tokyo open (Feb. 13), with investors watching whether the post-results rally holds — and whether early broker notes start moving estimates to match Kioxia’s new March-quarter range.
