How steep is the increase in memory prices? Japan's flash memory giant Kioxia has seen its market value rise from 43rd place to top ten in just half a year.

Kioxia Holdings Corp. for the first time entered the top ten market value companies in Japan, with its core product - NAND flash memory prices continuing to rise, which has significantly boosted the company's stock price. As of the close on Thursday, Kioxia's market value rose to 19.3 trillion yen (approximately $121 billion), ranking tenth, a significant leap from forty-third at the end of last year. Driven by the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom, the company's stock price rose 1.7% on Thursday, reaching its highest level since the large-scale IPO listing in December 2024. NAND flash memory can be used in AI servers. With continuous investments in the AI field by U.S. tech giants, the market demand for flash memory is strong, providing strong support for the stock prices of storage chip manufacturers such as SanDisk (SNDK.US) and Samsung Electronics (SSNLF.US). Kazuyoshi Saito, Senior Analyst at Iwai Cosmo Securities Co., stated, "Investors have begun to fully price in the expectation of significantly increased profits from the rise in storage chip prices for this fiscal year." He added that market focus is shifting towards storage chip stocks, and even in the chip sector with GEO Group Inc's resilience to risks, the valuation of such stocks still appears to be low. Since the beginning of this year, Kioxia's stock price has more than doubled, and its market value has surpassed trading company Mitsubishi Corporation (MTSUY.US), financial giant Mizuho Financial Group Inc Sponsored ADR (MFG.US), and defense contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHVIY.US). Analysts expect that in this fiscal year ending in March next year, Kioxia's net profit will increase five times, to around 2.5 trillion yen, making it the second most profitable company in Japan, second only to Toyota Motor Corp. Sponsored ADR (TM.US). However, Kioxia's expected P/E ratio is still less than eight times. Saito stated, "This indicates that the stock valuation is still undervalued, and the long-term upward trend in stock prices is likely to continue." Due to its high stock price volatility, Kioxia is popular among individual short-term traders and hedge funds. Ikuo Mitsui, Fund Manager at Aizawa Securities Co., pointed out, "Long-term investors take a strategy of buying and holding, while short-term funds further accelerate the stock's rise."