[News] Kioxia Executive Pay Reportedly Surges Multiple-Fold, Converging toward Samsung and SK hynix Peer Levels

As Kioxia’s market capitalization briefly surpassed Toyota Motor in June to become Japan’s largest listed company, attention is also turning to the company’s top executive compensation. According to Bloomberg, citing Kioxia’s freshly revealed securities report (year ended March 2026), Executive Chairman Stacy Smith saw his total compensation skyrocket 15-fold from a year earlier to ¥4.431 billion.

Meanwhile, former President Nobuo Hayasaka saw his total compensation surge 6.6-fold to ¥794 million, Bloomberg reports, underscoring how Kioxia’s executive pay structure is increasingly converging with levels seen among leading South Korean memory peers.

Against this backdrop, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun, who heads the Device Solutions (DS) division overseeing the semiconductor business, received a 2025 compensation package of 5.6 billion won, according to Hankyung. Bloomberg estimates this to be roughly equivalent to about ¥590 million.

A similar scale is seen at SK hynix. As reported by SeDaily, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won received 4.75 billion won from SK hynix, while CEO Kwak Noh-jung earned 4.239 billion won in total compensation. Bloomberg estimates CEO Kwak Noh-jung’s compensation translates to about ¥450 million, placing it in a comparable range with Kioxia’s former president.

The gains have not been limited to management. According to Bloomberg, in the last fiscal year, average annual pay increased 14% to ¥13.07 million at Kioxia Holdings and 16% to ¥9.42 million at Kioxia itself.

Market Forecast Points to Sharp Acceleration in Earnings

Looking ahead, Bloomberg notes that Kioxia’s earnings momentum is expected to accelerate sharply, with market forecasts pointing to approximately ¥7.205 trillion in the current fiscal year—roughly eight times higher than a year earlier. This upbeat outlook comes alongside the company’s own guidance at its latest earnings call, where it projected operating profit of ¥1.298 trillion for Q1 (April–June), about 29 times higher year-on-year.

Beyond the near-term earnings outlook, the company is also positioning for sustained demand growth in the coming years. As reported by EE Times Japan, Kioxia plans average annual capex of around ¥470 billion for FY2026–FY2028, up 66% from FY2025. In parallel, Kioxia President Hiroo Ota has set a target of placing 50% of shipments under LTAs by 2028 through multi-year agreements with hyperscale cloud providers, according to Global Economic News.

Read more

• [News] Kioxia Adopts Cautious Capex Despite NAND Upcycle: Reportedly 10% Below FY23 Peak, Key Concerns in Focus
• [News] The Race to 400-Layer NAND: Roadmaps and Key Technologies Driving Samsung, SK hynix, and Kioxia

(Photo credit: Kioxia’s LinkedIn)