October 6, 2025 /SemiMedia/ — Kioxia Holdings expects demand for NAND flash memory to grow around 20% annually, driven by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence data centers worldwide.

Tomoharu Watanabe, executive vice president of Kioxia, said the company is making monthly investment decisions to align production with rising demand. NAND flash, a core product for Kioxia, is widely used in smartphones, laptops, and data centers, where fast and efficient storage is critical.

The company’s second fab in Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, began operations this week and is scheduled to start shipping advanced memory chips in the first half of next year. In parallel, Kioxia is boosting investment in both Kitakami and Yokkaichi facilities, with plans to double memory output within five years in an effort to narrow the gap with rivals Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

With global data center construction accelerating, industry analysts see NAND prices gradually recovering from a prolonged downturn. Research firm TrendForce estimates prices could climb 5% to 10% in the October–December quarter compared with the previous three months.