Key facts
- Kioxia's December-quarter revenue forecast and projected operating profit both missed consensus, while September-quarter results were broadly in line.
- Kioxia said shipping delays for data-center storage products pushed some expected sales into the following quarter.
- Bernstein analysts led by Mark Li called the flat quarterly forecast "a massive miss" in an October 30 note.
- Kioxia shares had risen more than 750% in the first half of the year before the Monday decline.
- SK Hynix said long-term customer agreements cover more than half its production capacity for 2027 and 2028.
Shares of Japanese memory-chip maker Kioxia fell as much as 17% on Monday after the company's December-quarter revenue forecast and projected operating profit both missed consensus, Business Insider reported. The September-quarter results were broadly in line with expectations.
Kioxia said the weaker outlook partly reflected delays in shipping data-center storage products, which pushed some expected sales into the following quarter. A greater share of lower-priced products for smartphones and PCs is also expected to weigh on average selling price growth, the company said.
Bernstein analysts led by Mark Li wrote in an October 30 note that the forecast for essentially flat quarterly revenue and profit was "a massive miss." Kioxia was among the biggest winners of the AI infrastructure boom, with its shares up more than 750% in the first half of the year as investors bet on rising demand for data-center storage.
The selloff weighed on Japanese stocks, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 falling as much as 1% on Monday before recovering after midday. The declines followed a bruising week for US technology stocks, as investors scrutinized the costs of AI development and how quickly companies can turn that spending into profits.
The move came despite a broader boom in memory chips that helped South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix report record quarterly profits last week. SK Hynix offered greater visibility into future demand, with long-term customer agreements covering more than half its production capacity for 2027 and 2028, and its shares rallied following the earnings report. Kioxia expects memory supplies to remain tight in 2027, with its planned capacity for that year already sold out, and long-term agreements cover more than half its expected shipment volume in 2028.