Kioxia Holdings Corporation () is a Japanese multinational

computer memory Computer memory stores information, such as data and programs, for immediate use in the computer. The term ''memory'' is often synonymous with the terms ''RAM,'' ''main memory,'' or ''primary storage.'' Archaic synonyms for main memory include ...

manufacturer headquartered in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan. The company was spun off from the

Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...

conglomerate in June 2018 and gained its current name in October 2019; it is currently majority owned by

Bain Capital Bain Capital, LP is an American Investment company, private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, with around $185 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, p ...

which holds a 56% stake, while Toshiba holds a 41% stake. In the early 1980s, while still part of Toshiba, the company was credited with inventing

flash memory Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...

. As of the second quarter of 2021, the company was estimated to have 18.3% of the global revenue share for

NAND flash Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...

solid-state drive A solid-state drive (SSD) is a type of solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuits to store data persistently. It is sometimes called semiconductor storage device, solid-state device, or solid-state disk. SSDs rely on non- ...

Name

Kioxia is a combination of the Japanese word '' kioku'' meaning ''memory'' and the Greek word '' axia'' meaning ''value''.

History

In 1980, Fujio Masuoka, an engineer at Kioxia predecessor Toshiba, invented flash memory, and in 1984, Masuoka and his colleagues presented their invention of NOR flash. In January 2014, the Toshiba Corporation completed its acquisition of

OCZ Storage Solutions OCZ was a brand of Toshiba that was used for some of its solid-state drives (SSDs) before they were rebranded with Toshiba. OCZ Storage Solutions was a manufacturer of SSDs based in San Jose, California, USA and was the new company formed after ...

, renaming it OCZ and making it a brand of Toshiba. On June 1, 2018, due to heavy losses experienced by the bankruptcy of the Westinghouse subsidiary of former parent company Toshiba over nuclear power plant construction at Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in 2016, was spun off from the Toshiba Corporation. Toshiba maintained a 40.2% equity in the new company. The new company consisted of all of Toshiba memory businesses. Toshiba Memory Corporation became a subsidiary of the newly formed Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation on March 1, 2019. In June 2019, Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation experienced a power cut at one of its factories in Yokkaichi, Japan, resulting in the loss of at least 6

exabytes The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...

of flash memory, with some sources estimating the loss as high as 15 exabytes.

Western Digital Western Digital Corporation is an American data storage company headquartered in San Jose, California. Established in 1970, the company is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives (HDDs). History 1970s Western Digital ...

used (and still uses) Kioxia's facilities for making its own flash memory chips. On August 30, 2019, the company announced that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Taiwanese electronics manufacturer

Lite-On Lite-On (also known as LiteOn and LiteON) is a Taiwanese company that primarily manufactures consumer electronics, including LEDs, semiconductors, computer chassis, monitors, motherboards, optical disc drives, and other electronic components. ...

's SSD business for . The acquisition closed on July 1, 2020. On July 18, 2019, Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation announced it would change its name to Kioxia on October 1, 2019, including all Toshiba memory companies. On October 1, 2019, Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation was renamed Kioxia Holdings Corporation and Toshiba Memory Corporation was renamed Kioxia Corporation. This renaming also included companies associated with Toshiba's solid-state drive brand OCZ. In February 2022, Kioxia and

reported that contamination issues have affected the output of their flash memory joint-production factories, with WD admitting that at least 6.5 exabytes of memory output being affected. The Kiakami and Yokkaichi factories in Japan stopped producing due to the contamination.

Corporate affairs

As of April 14, 2024, Kioxia ownership is as follows: * Bain Capital Private Equity (56.24%) *

(40.64%) * Hoya Corporation (3.13%)

Subsidiaries

Kioxia Holdings Corporation is the

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

of Kioxia Corporation. Kioxia Corporation is the parent company of several companies including Kioxia Systems Company, Kioxia Advanced Package Corporation, Kioxia America, and Kioxia Europe.

References

External links

* {{Navboxes, list1= {{Toshiba {{Japanese Electronics Industry {{Solid-state drive {{Major computer hardware companies {{Major information storage companies {{Major semiconductor companies Toshiba Computer hardware companies Computer memory companies Consumer electronics brands Electrical engineering companies of Japan Electronics companies of Japan Electronics companies established in 2018 Corporate spin-offs Japanese brands Japanese companies established in 2018 Manufacturing companies based in Tokyo Multinational companies headquartered in Japan Joint ventures Technology companies of Japan Computer storage companies Bain Capital companies Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange 2024 initial public offerings