Japan's Kioxia sees AI driving strong memory growth for years

Japan's Kioxia sees AI driving strong memory growth for years Kioxia has been aggressively investing in its main chip factories as it aims to close the gap to rivals Samsung and SK Hynix. Kioxia anticipates demand for NAND storage will grow by roughly 20% each year as AI data center operators keep scaling up. The Tokyo-based memory maker is confident that the market will sustain that rapid clip of expansion and is making investment decisions on a monthly basis to ensure its new plant is up to the task of filling the demand, Executive Vice President Tomoharu Watanabe said. Kioxia's specialty is in NAND flash memory, which is used everywhere from smartphones and laptops to the fast-access sections of data center operations. Demand is strong, especially from hyperscalers who need chips for generative AI purposes," Watanabe said on Tuesday. We're also hearing from customers who need to replace data center servers they installed five to six years ago, as well as some saying they can't get enough hard drives."