computer science

Kioxia

Kioxia is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kioxia rather than just read about it. In short: Kioxia () is a Japanese semiconductor memory and data-storage group headquartered in Tokyo. It is headed by the publicly traded holding company Kioxia Holdings Corporation.

Key takeaways

Kioxia belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kioxia to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kioxia from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kioxia () is a Japanese semiconductor memory and data-storage group headquartered in Tokyo. It is headed by the publicly traded holding company Kioxia Holdings Corporation. Its wholly owned principal operating subsidiary, Kioxia Corporation, develops, manufactures and sells NAND flash memory, solid-state drives (SSDs), and related storage products. Kioxia Corporation began operations as Toshiba Memory Corporation on April 1, 2017, after Toshiba separated its memory business into a new company. A consortium led by Bain Capital acquired the business from Toshiba in June 2018. Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation was established as its holding company on March 1, 2019, and both companies adopted the Kioxia name in October 2019. Kioxia Holdings was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market on December 18, 2024. Kioxia traces its flash-memory technology to Toshiba, where engineers led by Fujio Masuoka developed flash memory in the 1980s and invented NAND flash memory in 1987. According to TrendForce, Kioxia ranked third among NAND flash suppliers by revenue in the first quarter of 2026, with a 13.9% market share.

Name The name Kioxia is a combination of the Japanese word kioku, meaning "memory", and the Greek word axia, meaning "value".

History

Origins at Toshiba In 1984, Fujio Masuoka and his colleagues at Toshiba presented a flash EEPROM memory cell at the International Electron Devices Meeting. Toshiba engineers subsequently invented NAND flash memory in 1987 and commercialized a 4-Mbit NAND device in 1991. In January 2014, Toshiba completed its acquisition of the assets of OCZ Technology Group and launched OCZ Storage Solutions as a subsidiary, adding OCZ's SSD business to Toshiba's storage operations.

Spin-off and sale by Toshiba In December 2016, Toshiba disclosed the possibility of major goodwill and losses related to Westinghouse Electric Company's acquisition of the nuclear construction and services business CB&I Stone & Webster. In January 2017, Toshiba said the potential losses could amount to several billion US dollars and that it needed to strengthen its financial structure. Toshiba decided to separate its memory business into a single business entity and consider an injection of third-party capital as a financial measure. Toshiba Memory Corporation commenced operations on April 1, 2017, as a wholly owned Toshiba subsidiary responsible for the memory and related-products business. Toshiba subsequently agreed to sell Toshiba Memory to K.K. Pangea, a special-purpose acquisition company formed by a consortium led by Bain Capital. The ¥2 trillion sale was completed on June 1, 2018. Toshiba reinvested in the business, and after the acquisition Pangea's voting rights were held 49.9% by BCPE Pangea Cayman, L.P., 40.2% by Toshiba and 9.9% by Hoya Corporation. On August 1, Pangea merged with Toshiba Memory Corporation, with the combined company retaining the Toshiba Memory Corporation name.

Establishment of Kioxia and acquisitions Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation was incorporated on March 1, 2019, through a sole-share transfer from Toshiba Memory Corporation. The operating company became its wholly owned subsidiary and continued to conduct research and development, manufacturing, marketing and sales, while the holding company assumed group strategy and management oversight. A power outage in Yokkaichi in June 2019 disrupted production at the Toshiba Memory and Western Digital flash manufacturing operations. Western Digital estimated that the incident reduced its flash wafer availability by about 6 exabytes. In August 2019, Toshiba Memory announced an agreement to acquire the SSD business of Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Lite-On for US$165 million. The acquisition was completed on July 1, 2020. On October 1, 2019, Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation was renamed Kioxia Holdings Corporation and Toshiba Memory Corporation was renamed Kioxia Corporation.

IPO attempts and public listing Kioxia planned an initial public offering in 2020, but on September 28 the company postponed the offering, citing continued market volatility and concerns about a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2022, contamination of a material used in 3D NAND production disrupted operations at the Yokkaichi and Kitakami plants. Western Digital estimated that at least 6.5 exabytes of its flash availability were affected. In 2023, Kioxia held merger talks with its manufacturing partner Western Digital. The negotiations stalled after SK Hynix, an indirect investor in Kioxia, opposed the proposed combination. Kioxia revived its listing plans in 2024 as NAND prices and demand recovered. Reuters reported that investment in AI servers and inventory replenishment by smartphone and PC customers contributed to improved market conditions. Kioxia Holdings completed its initial public offering and began trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market on December 18, 2024. The IPO raised ¥120 billion, including the overallotment.

Products and technology

NAND flash and BiCS FLASH

Kioxia's principal semiconductor product is NAND flash memory. Its predecessor Toshiba invented NAND flash memory in 1987 and announced three-dimensional flash-memory technology in 2007. The company's 3D NAND technology is marketed as BiCS FLASH. Toshiba commercialized 48-layer BiCS FLASH in 2015. A 96-layer fourth-generation device was announced in 2017 and SSDs using the technology were commercialized in 2018. Kioxia announced 112-layer fifth-generation BiCS FLASH in 2020, followed by a 162-layer sixth-generation TLC device in 2021 and a QLC device in 2022. The company announced 218-layer eighth-generation BiCS FLASH in 2023 and 332-layer tenth-generation technology in 2025. Later generations of BiCS FLASH use a CMOS directly Bonded to Array (CBA) architecture, in which the memory-cell array and CMOS circuitry are fabricated on separate wafers and bonded together. In July 2026, Kioxia began sample shipments of 1-Tbit TLC tenth-generation BiCS FLASH devices with 332 stacked word lines. According to TrendForce, Kioxia's NAND flash revenue in the first quarter of 2026 represented 13.9% of the global market, placing it third among suppliers.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kioxia

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kioxia claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kioxia before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kioxia ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kioxia

In research: Kioxia appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kioxia in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kioxia is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2024 initial public offerings, Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Computer hardware companies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kioxia outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kioxia in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kioxia means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kioxia out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kioxia in simple terms?

Kioxia () is a Japanese semiconductor memory and data-storage group headquartered in Tokyo. It is headed by the publicly traded holding company Kioxia Holdings Corporation.

Why does Kioxia matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kioxia?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kioxia.