[News] Kioxia Names New President ahead of Earnings Release: Key Points to Watch

As Kioxia and SanDisk extended their joint venture at the Yokkaichi facility by five years to 2034, the Japanese memory giant made another high-profile move last week. On January 29, Kioxia announced that Hiroo Ota, currently Vice President and Executive Officer, will take over as president effective April 1, while current President Nobuo Hayasaka, 70, will step down and assume the role of Senior Executive Advisor.

As highlighted by Newswitch, this would mark the company’s first presidential handover in roughly six years. As a 63-year-old veteran who joined the company in the Toshiba era of 1985, Hiroo Ota, the new president, now faces the task of navigating Kioxia through a NAND resurgence.

Q3 Signals Turnaround

All eyes now turn to Kioxia’s mid-February earnings release. Can Ota’s leadership era begin with a bang for the December quarter?

Notably, despite the broader memory price surge spanning DRAM and NAND, Kioxia posted mixed results recently. As reported by EE Times Japan, Kioxia’s sales for Q2 FY2025 (July–September 2025) reached ¥448.3 billion, up 30.8% from the previous quarter but down 6.8% year-on-year, while on the profitability side, non-GAAP operating profit fell 47.6% from Q1 FY25 to ¥87.2 billion.

The report pointed out that in terms of product trends, the average selling price for like-for-like products rose roughly 5% quarter-on-quarter in USD terms, while overall prices slipped 2–3%.

As reported by GuruFocus, Kioxia’s earnings fell short partly due to a fixed-price NAND supply deal with Apple, which capped profit gains even as market prices climbed. However, with other memory giants like Samsung, SK hynix, and SanDisk reportedly raising NAND prices without locking in long-term contracts, investors will be watching how Kioxia responds—and whether its product ASPs and profitability rebound in the December quarter as supply tightens and the mix shifts back toward higher-margin server and PC SSDs.

Currently, Kioxia’s Q3 guidance signals sequential revenue growth of 11.5%–22.7% (JPY 500–550 billion vs. JPY 448.3 billion) and net income surge of 46.3%–113.4% (JPY 61–89 billion vs. JPY 41.7 billion), driven by continued NAND Flash demand recovery and improving pricing.

2026 Outlook

The Japanese NAND giant is already giving positive outlook in 2026 and beyond. Executive Chairman Stacy Smith told Bloomberg that Kioxia is targeting production growth just above the industry’s estimated 20% bit increase this year, aiming to grab market share.

To secure long-term supply, SanDisk and Kioxia have already announced an extension of their Yokkaichi Plant joint venture by five years. Under the renewed agreement, SanDisk will pay US$1.165 billion to Kioxia for manufacturing services and guaranteed supply, with installments spread from 2026 to 2029. According to Investing.com, analysts view this as a positive for Kioxia, expecting the payments to add incremental revenue with minimal additional cost, boosting the company’s overall performance.

Regarding its partnership with SanDisk, Mynavi News notes that Kioxia and SanDisk share production at the Yokkaichi and Kitakami plants, with Kioxia handling about 60% and SanDisk 40% of output.

Read more

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(Photo credit: Kioxia’s LinkedIn)