On May 16, Japanese chip maker Kioxia Holdings announced on Friday that driven by growing demand for data centers and semiconductors, the company expects its net profit for the April-June quarter to surge more than 47-fold year-on-year to 869 billion yen (approximately $5.7 billion). As a major producer of NAND flash memory chips, Kioxia also reported that its net profit for the previous fiscal year ending in March more than doubled year-on-year to 554.49 billion yen, marking a second consecutive year of record highs. Kioxia President and CEO Hiroo Ota pointed out during an online briefing that as AI gradually becomes part of social infrastructure, strong demand in the flash memory market is expected to persist, with the company projecting NAND demand to outstrip supply through 2027. For the April-June quarter, Kioxia expects net profit to more than double compared to the January-March quarter, with operating profit projected at 1.30 trillion yen and sales at 1.75 trillion yen, based on an assumed USD-JPY exchange rate of 159. Kioxia anticipates that first-quarter performance alone will significantly exceed full-year levels for fiscal 2025. To meet robust demand, the company plans to expand production capacity for core products, launch next-generation offerings, and invest approximately 450 billion yen in capital expenditures to strengthen its manufacturing base during the current fiscal year.