TOKYO - Kioxia Holdings Corp. said Friday it has started sample shipments of its next-generation memory chips to meet rising demand for chips for artificial intelligence data centers.
The chipmaker produces the new high-capacity, low power consumption flash memory chips at the second production facility of its Kitakami plant in Iwate Prefecture, which was open to the media on the same day.
Driven by surging demand for chips for AI data centers, Kioxia said in May that it expects its net profit for the April-June quarter to increase more than 47-fold from a year earlier.
The strong earnings outlook leaves the chipmaker vying with Toyota Motor Corp. for the top spot in market capitalization.
If the second facility reaches full capacity, output at the Kitakami plant will nearly double compared with operations using only the first facility.
Kioxia plans to raise production capacity in stages at the plant in line with demand.
President Hiroo Ota said AI use is growing rapidly, adding, "We want to expand production in the second manufacturing facility and respond to market growth."
