Kioxia, a Japanese memory chip manufacturer, has overtaken Toyota to become the country's most valuable company by market capitalization, after its stock surged more than 670% driven by strong demand for AI chips.
June 12, 2569 at 14.00:XNUMX a.m. Bloomberg News reported that Kioxia Holdings Corp., a major Japanese memory chip manufacturer, has surpassed Toyota Motor Corp. to become the country's most valuable company by market capitalization. This reflects the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) which is rapidly transforming the Japanese business landscape.
Kioxia shares surged 7.6% in Friday's trading, pushing its market capitalization past 44 trillion yen (approximately $274,000 billion). Just 18 months after being listed on the stock exchange, Toyota closed the market with a market value of 43.8 trillion yen. These figures include treasury shares.
Kioxia's rise to become the most valuable company reflects a shift in global investment flows into the semiconductor and memory sectors, which are directly benefiting from the rapidly increasing demand for chips for AI data centers.
Since the beginning of the year, Kioxia shares have surged more than 670%, becoming the best-performing stock in the MSCI World Index.
Shutaro Yasuda, an analyst from Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory. specify that Kioxia's rise as Japan's most valuable company is a "symbol" of a significant shift in the capital market.
"It may be too early to call it a major industrial structural shift, but what's happening clearly reflects that." he said
SoftBank Group had previously temporarily surpassed Toyota to become Japan's most valuable company, driven by speculation about OpenAI's IPO. However, SoftBank's share price subsequently corrected as investors reduced their risk exposure to technology stocks.
The current list of Japan's top 20 most valuable companies clearly shows an increasing number of companies related to AI, such as Murata Manufacturing, a manufacturer of components for AI data centers, and Advantest, a manufacturer of semiconductor chip testing equipment.
Kioxia originated from Toshiba's memory chip business, a pioneer of NAND Flash technology, before the company was spun off and acquired by a group of investors led by Bain Capital in 2561, and renamed Kioxia the following year.
Conversely, Toyota shares have faced continued pressure, with the price falling about 17% since the beginning of the year amid the impact of tensions in the Middle East, rising oil prices, and concerns about global vehicle demand.
Furthermore, the automotive industry faces challenges from the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and the development of in-car software, which require significant investment and put pressure on the growth prospects of global automakers.
refer : www.bloomberg.com
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